Dirty Tricks
by radicalL
Summary: COMPLETE! When team 7 plays a prank on Sakura, she decides to draw the line. Now she, Hinata, and Kurenai are going to get even. But how will they do it? R&R plz! Sasusaku, Naruhina, and ShikaIno.
1. The Mission

**Disclaimer:** Naruto is not mine. Sigh. Please keep this note in mind because I hate saying this. -.-'

**Note:** If you like this story, please review! Why? Cause you review when you like a story. Do it cause its nice, and being nice . . . is good. Also, this is my first Naruto fic, so almost everyone is so out of character. Gomen! 

**Notice:** the sentences in italics are thoughts, ok?

This one dang long chapter. You be warned! 

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**                                                                    Chapter One**

**                                                                     The ****Mission**

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            Sakura wearily dragged her feet in the moist ground. It had rained allot the day before and the ground was mushy and muddy. Also, the morning's wet air didn't help much. It was _way_ to early in the morning to be doing training. _Stupid Kakashi._

            She glanced over at her walking partner, Hinata. Sakura rarely spoke to her before, but ever since they started walking to their training grounds together, they had become close friends. Once, she had invited the white eyed girl to a sleepover, where she confided to Sakura about her crush Naruto. After that, Sakura daily gave Hinata information about what Naruto ate, did, and said that day. They talked about private things that they would never tell other people. Sakura could finally let her inner Sakura talk.

            "Hey Sakura . . ." Hinata said, glancing at the pink haired girl.

            "Hmm?"

            "Is their anything going on between Kakashi and Kurenai-sensei?" she asked.

            "I don't think so. Why?"

            "I saw them fighting. Kakashi was making fun of her. She stomped off while he was laughing at her. Actually, it was pretty funny watching them fight," Hinata giggled. She wasn't nearly as shy around Sakura as she was around everyone else.

            "Kakashi would do something like that. He is so stupid sometimes. Whenever Sasuke and I have a romantic moment, he pulls out his Make Out Paradise book and says "Hey Sasuke, didn't you want to read this page?" and scares him away. And just when I was going to ask him out too," Sakura huffed. Her face started turning red with anger, remembering the several times Kakashi had done that that month.

            "Why? What's so bad about that book?" Hinata asked.

            "Trust me, only perverted teachers like Kakashi could enjoy that book!" Sakura replied. "Who ever made it should be hung by their toenails and tortured slowly!"

            Hinata said nothing. Obviously, with a book by the title "Make Out Paradise" should be a very naughty book. She found no reason to question Sakura further.

            Suddenly they came to the point were they had to separate and go to their teacher's training grounds. Sakura sighed. _Another training session._

            "Bye Hinata! I'll tell you about Naruto at the ramen shop, ok?" Sakura whispered loud enough for only Hinata to her.

            "Domo arigato Sakura!" She replied.

-Sakura arriving to the Kakashi's training ground.

            "Hello Sakura-chan! Nice day, isn't it?" Naruto grinned.

            "It's too early," she moaned. Suddenly a raven-haired young man with a handsome face caught her eye. He had her undivided attention.

            "Oh Hello, Sasuke-kun! It sure is pretty out today!" She slid up beside her beloved, forgetting what she had said to Naruto.

            Sasuke looked at her, staring holes into her with his dark eyes. "Whatever . . ." he replied.

-Two hours later.

            Kakashi slowly walked up to the place were he had assigned his students to meet. He was reading his favorite book- Make Out Paradise. He had read all of the volumes there was in the series, yet he never tired of reading it. He read it so carefully on the way to site, that it always made him slow down. Because of that, his students, particularly Sakura, yelled at him. And he always had an excuse for it.

            He felt refreshed. His fight with Kurenai really had made him feel better. What did he call her again? Oh yeah. Little Miss Vampire, queen of fat and ugly blood suckers.

            He looked up from his book. His students were throwing mental daggers at him. Just another typical morning for Kakashi.

            "Sorry I'm late. I got lost on the road of life"He said to his students with a dream-like look in his face.

            "The road of life must be pretty hard for you, ne master Kakashi?" Naruto said, smiling his famous smile. Master Kakashi smiled under his mask. _If only Naruto knew . . .  he thought._

            Sasuke sent an evil glance at the blond haired boy. "Dobe . . ." he muttered under his breath.

            Sakura heard his comment and giggled slightly. She thought his snide remarks were hilarious. She loved everything about Sasuke- to his beautiful face to his horrible past. She was sure that she would get him to notice wow much she really loved him soon. It was destiny after all! They _have_ to be together. _We would make the cutest couple! _Sakura thought.

            "Ok! Your assignment for today is Shuriken practice. I have dulled the tips of these throwing stars to the point that they won't cut you on contact. You will be using each other as targets. If you get hit by a Shuriken, then you must return here and wait for the others. I will be going around and try to get you out," the teacher explained.

            _All right! Maybe if I get Naruto and Master Kakashi- out, Sasuke-kun will finally notice me!_

            "Are you ready to do the mission?" Kakashi asked, looking down to his team.

            "HELL YEAH!" Sakura screamed in delight, closing her eyes and throwing her hands up in the air.

            The three boys stared at her. Naruto had a raised eyebrow and Sasuke was sending her a you-freak look. Sakura finally realized what she was doing and said, "Umm, I mean, yeah. I'm ready."

            Kakashi shook his head and ran a hair threw his silvery hair. "Well THAT was interesting."

            He took out 4 small pouches filled with throwing stars. Each tip of the shuriken was rounded off to a dull tip. The crappy shuriken couldn't cut paper let alone human flesh.

            "You have 5 minutes to pick out a hiding spot. Remember to come back here after you get hit." Kakashi walked off into the forest surrounding them.

            And so they all ran off in search of their own hiding places.

                                                          To be continued!

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Well, that's it! Woo! This was a long chapter to write. Actually, chapter two was part of this. So imagine this, but twice as long. That's allot of reading. So I took part of chapter 1 and made it into chapter 2! Plz review! That's the only way I'll know that you liked my story! Or you could email me. Just review plz. Reviews are an author's lifeblood man!


	2. The Cruelest Joke

**Chapter Two**

**The Cruelest Joke**

            **Disclaimer: Me no ownie! I wish I did though. Especially Naruto-kun! Or maybe even Sasuke-kun! Or maybe even master Kakashi-sensei too! *starts drooling***

            **Notice: Umm, again, words in italics are thoughts. _Stupid people._**

**Note: Plz review! If you don't review then my life will be uncomplete and worthless! *Sobs***

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-Sakura's hiding place.

            Sakura looked around past the foliage of the trees. The sun started coming out and the weather had gotten warmer. So far, it had been about 45 minutes into practice, and she hasn't been attacked yet.

            Sakura tucked her hair behind her ears. Ever since she got it cut, her daily hair ritual of combing and spraying to make her look good for Sasuke had shortened dramatically. Actually, she liked her new haircut, but she didn't know if Sasuke liked it.

            Secretly to her, Sasuke didn't care how her hair looked. Yes, Sakura was a beautiful girl with an attractive forehead (a bit large, but attractive) but that didn't mean he really cared about her appearance. Sometimes her worrying about looking good was a liability to Sasuke.

            Sakura's emerald eyes scanned the area for so much as a shadow or a fleeting figure. She was seemingly alone . . . or at least for now. She sighed. At this rate, she will never find Master Kakashi or Naruto.

            Suddenly she heard an object coming to her. A metallic whirling sound. That could only be one thing. A shuriken!

            Sakura swerved to her left. A shuriken whizzed past her ear, smacked into a branch, and fell to ground (because the tip wasn't sharp enough to stick to the wood.) She turned around and found more shuriken flying towards her from all sides! She did the only thing she could do.

            Sakura jumped back and fell to the ground. 

            However, the shuriken kept coming. She quickly rolled over to her side and managed to get up. She started running. Her breathing began ragged as she stumbled why she scurried away.

            Then Sakura's foot got caught on a tree root. She fell to the ground; face first, with a loud Ka-Thump. On top of that, she felt a blunt-tipped throwing star strike her back and ricochet off. _Oh no!_ Inner Sakura screamed.

            Sakura growled in anger with herself and turned her head around to see which one of her teammates attacked her. She gasped when she saw Sasuke slide down from a branch of a nearby tree. He had a slight smirk on his face as he walked over to Sakura. Sakura almost felt like crying. _How could Sasuke turn on me like that?_ She didn't seem to realize that all of her teammates were supposed to be against her, as well as themselves, and that included Sasuke.

            "Are you ok, Sakura?" He asked her, eyeing her ankle, which was very much bruised from falling.

            _Sasuke-kun is worried about me? All right! Oh, but if I say my ankle is hurt, he will think I'm a weakling! No way! No more weak Sakura!_

            "I'm fine Sasuke-kun," she said with a small smile.

            "Are you sure? Your ankle is pretty messed up. Do you need help getting up?" Sasuke put his hand in front of her.

            _Ahhh! Sasuke-kun is so worried about me! I'm so happy!_

            "Iie, I'm fine Sasuke-kun. I can get up by myself," Sasuke's little smile went to a frown quickly. Sakura noticed and blushed.

            Sakura slowly pushed herself up. She wobbled a bit, but managed to stand up on her own. Her ankle was absolutely killing her, but she managed to smile a bit to Sasuke.

            "See Sasuke? I can sta- AHHHH! "Suddenly her bad leg let out a jolt of pain. She fell forward but Sasuke caught her.

            "We should get you to master Kakashi and let him fix you up," Sasuke said, cradling her against his chest.

            "Sasuke-kun . . ." Sakura whispered. She didn't know what to say.

            He picked her up and held her in his arms. Sakura was silent while inner Sakura was weeping with joy. He slowly walked forward to a massive mud puddle in front of them.

            "You know Sakura, when I first met you; I thought you were another annoying girl fallowing me around. All you were was another person trying to get me to like you. But now, I think I feel more different about you.

            "Ever since you cut your hair, I have grown a new respect for you. And I think that maybe I even love . . . you. Sakura, will you be my girlfriend?" He asked. For once his eyes were loving, dark pools instead of the cruel ones she was used to.

            "A-aishiteru Sasuke-kun!" Sakura whispered.

            "Aishiteru Sakura-chan . . ." he leaned his head down, parting his lips a bit.

            Sakura closed her eyes a brought her face up to his. Their lips were only a few centimeters away. _This is it! This is what I've always wanted from you, Sasuke-kun!_

            Suddenly he let go of her. Sploooooshh! Sakura fell into the giant mud puddle Sasuke was holding her over.             Sakura opened her eyes in surprise. Sas_uke dropped me in the mud!_

            Mud was soaked into her hair and clothes and covered her face like a mask. Sakura wiped away the mud over her eyes with an already muddy hand, which only made it worse. She looked up at Sasuke with shocked eyes.

            "I'm sorry Sakura, you're too heavy . . ." Sasuke apologized.

            Sakura blinked. Was really doing what she thought he was doing? He was.

            Sasuke was laughing at her. Not just a giggle either. His eyes were closed and he was in hysterics. It was as if her misery was the funniest thing in the world. "Sasuke-kun" her eyes were watering up with tears.

            Then Naruto and Kakashi slid out of a tree laughing their head off. Naruto gave Sasuke a high five while Kakashi was walking over to Sakura. Even her usually kind and perverted teacher was chuckling at her current situation.

            "Sorry Sakura, we had to pull this prank on you. I set it up and got Naruto and Sasuke to help. We all used our Shuriken against you at once. I didn't know that you would twist your ankle though," he said, giggling a bit.

            Sakura looked over to Sasuke. He was looking down at her in a mocking sort of way. _All those romantic words were just a lie?! I confided my love to him and he was just playing along?!_

            She looked over to Naruto and master Kakashi. _Naruto, master Kakashi . . . you used my love for Sasuke-kun against me? Why? Just for laughs?_

            Sakura's eyes started filling up with tears.

            _Just . . . for laughs?_

            Her eyes were over flowing now.

            _No . . ._

            Sakura was crying rivers now.

            _No . . ._

            She pushed herself up from the ground and ran. She only made it a few feet when her bad ankle made her fall flat on her stomach again.

            Their laughter stomped. "Sakura!" Naruto cried out. He rushed to her side, trying to help her up.

            "Get away from me!" Sakura screamed. She looked back at Naruto, flames in her eyes. A look of pure hatred. She gave master Kakashi the same look and she gave one to even Sasuke.

            "Just get away from me!" And she managed to run away before anyone could stop her, tears streaming down her face. And she disappeared over the blood-colored horizon.

To be continued 

Next chapter, A Plan.

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Well, what cha' think? Do you like it, do ya? Huh, huh, huh? Plz review! I won't continue if I don't get reviews. ^o-  (that's a wink, I guess) They pulled the cruelest joke on poor Sakura-chan didn't they? Poo on them! Dun worry, Sakura will get back I think


	3. Remorse

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto! *Cries* It's not fair! *Cries some more* everyone should own Naruto! After all, we are the fans! Without us, Naruto would be just another name out there! We . . . need . . . to own . . . Naru- *gets tackled by people who hate listening to her talk*

**Note:** Plz review! Yes, reviews are good! They are, they are! Anyone who says so otherwise either gets flamed all the time or has never written a fanfic.

**Notice:** Again, the words in italics are thoughts. _Yes! I am inner Lauren! Muahahahaha!_

Errr, I don't know how it went from like lunchtime to sun set so quickly. Sorry about my timing people!

Wow, over ten reviews! I never thought that I would get that many! Domo arigato gozimasu minna!

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                                                            **Chapter 3**

**                                                            Remorse**

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'_Just get away from me!' her words echoed through the mind of Uchiha Sasuke as he watched her run away into the setting sun. Suddenly he felt really heavy in his chest. A weird emotion came over him. He hadn't felt this form of it for a long, long, time. Guilt._

            When he had first felt guilt, it had been when his brother had killed his clan. At the same time he felt grief, pain, sadness, anger, hopelessness, the list could go on. But then he had let anger consume him and bring him into darkness.

            But this kind of guilt felt like whenever he did something bad. Like when he had broke a vase that his mother loved. He was young and had cried all night because he knew his mother loved that vase and now it was gone. But now he had broken much more than a vase.

            He had broken Sakura's heart. He had shattered the space that held all her love for him and team 7. 

***flash back***

_            A very young Uchiha Sasuke stood over a broken vase that his mother loved. His mother used to love to put bright red flowers in it to match the rose design on the container. Now it was broken._

_            "I'm so sorry mommy!" he ran over and sobbed into his mother's chest._

_            "It's ok Sasu-chan, we'll fix it!" his mother got some glue out and started gluing pieces of the vase back together._

_            When they were done placing the pieces back together, they stepped back to see how it turned out. It looked horrible. In fact, if you hadn't worked on it, then you would find it very hard to believe that it had once been a very beautiful priceless vase._

_            "See, it looks just like how it used to be!" his mother exclaimed excitedly._

_            " . . . No it doesn't."_

_            "Yes it does, or why would it look so pretty?" she asked him, frowning a bit._

_            Little Sasuke smiled. If his mother thought it was pretty, then it had to be pretty. He guessed that it turned out nice after all. _

_            Then his father walked in. He looked around and scratched his head. "Hey, were did the vase go?"_

*End of flashback* 

            Sasuke sighed. His mother had lied about her real feelings about the vase because she loved him. Sakura lied to him all the time so he would think differently about her. She did it because she loved him.

            _I shouldn't even be feeling this way. Sakura should have seen through our plan._

            Then Sasuke stopped and thought. _But she always puts her trust in us. She has always trusted me. She didn't think I would do something like that. Now that I have broken her trust, will she still like me?_

            _Get a grip Sasuke! Why should I care if she likes me? So what if she doesn't trust me anymore? She can hate me for all I care._

            _But it is kinda nice . . . having someone by your side all the time._

            Kakashi scratched his head. "Hmmm . . . maybe dropping her in the mud was a little too much." Then the ((hot and sexy ^.^)) teacher continued, "I think I will dismiss you all now. We had enough training for one day." Then he pulled out Make Out Paradise volume 2 and started walking away, reading it.

            "Dang, how does he read that with only one eye?" Naruto asked, watching his sensei go.

            "How can he even stand to read that shit in the first place?" Sasuke replied. He started walking away back to his house.

            "Hey, wait up Sasuke!" Naruto called, trying to get Sasuke's attention.

            Sasuke turned around with an annoyed look in his face. "What is it, Naruto?"

            "Will you buy me some ramen?"

            "Hell no."

            "Please? I'm out of money and I really, really want some!" Naruto begged.

            "Maybe if you didn't spend all your money on ramen, then you would have some money left," Sasuke growled.

            Naruto stopped and closed his eyes. He crossed his arms and had a "you big jerk" look on his face.

            They continued walked back into the village. There was a long awkward silence between. Or atleast to Naruto, he didn't know about Sasuke.

            "Hey, Sasuke?" Naruto asked again.

            "What is it now Naruto?" Sasuke asked, getting a little irritated.

            "Can I ask you something personal?" Naruto asked. He looked around to see if anyone was listening.

            "What do you want to ask me?"

            "Do you like . . ." Sasuke inwardly grinned. _He's probably going to ask me if I like Sakura. Heh heh heh, what a dobe . . ._

". . . Dresses? I mean, Sakura likes to wear them all the time so they must be pretty comfortable."

            "What the hell?! What kind of question is that?!" Sasuke spun around are stared at Naruto. Never in a million years would he have seen that coming.

            "A personal one." Naruto said. "Aren't you listening?"

            Naruto continued, "Anyway, dresses must be very comfy. And you wouldn't have to worry about your zipper getting stuck when you really, really, have to go to the potty! You could hide weapons under there too. And with dresses, you wouldn't need pockets because-"

            "SHUT UP NARUTO!" Sasuke's eye twitched as unpleasant images of Naruto in a dress flouted through his mind. "Good god, I'm going to have nightmares for weeks!"

            Naruto snickered. "What?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the boy.

            "Heh heh heh, now I know your biggest fear Sasuke!" Naruto laughed and then his voice lowered to a whisper. "Your afraid of skirts, aren't you?"

            Sasuke glared at him. "No, but the thought of you IN one scares me." Sasuke turned away, letting his friend think more of his transvestite-ish thoughts.

            "Hey Sasuke . . ." Naruto started to say.

            "If it has anything to do with dresses or ramen, I don't want to hear it" Sasuke said.

            "You didn't really think the joke we played on Sakura was that funny, did you?"

            Sasuke stopped walking. "Of coarse it was. I was laughing, wasn't I?!" he growled at Naruto, getting tired of answering his questions.

            "Not for very long."

            Sasuke said nothing.

            Naruto continued. "And when you did laugh, it sounded like you weren't really having fun."

            "So?"

            Naruto grinned. "So . . . I think you have a crush on Sakura!"

            "What? I do not."

            "Yeah you do, or otherwise why would you take her out for ramen and smile at her while she's not looking?"

            Sasuke stared at him in confusion. "That was you and Hinata, you dobe!"

            "Oh yeah, I forgot," Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

            Naruto remembered the first time he had bought her ramen. She blushed and smiled back at him with a beautiful smile that made his heart feel like it was melting. From then on, he looked at her whenever he had the chance and bought ramen if he could afford it. Actually, the only reason he asked Sasuke for ramen is so that he could split it with Hinata. His face reddened at the fond memories he had of her.

            "We really hurt her Naruto . . ." Sasuke whispered.

            Naruto looked back at Sasuke. "Huh?"

            "We broke her heart. Did you see the way she looked at me? That is a look of pure hatred. I hope . . . I hope I never see her look that way at me again," Sasuke was still whispering. He wasn't really aware that he was saying those things. The events that had happened today played over again in his head.

            Naruto noticed that Sasuke wasn't really "all there" and said nothing. He thought for a moment and then an idea hit him.

            "You know what, Sasuke? You should write Sakura an apology. I think that would mean allot to her!" Naruto said with a hopeful smile.

            "That is the stupidest idea I ever heard," Sasuke shot a hateful glance at Naruto, but inwardly, he didn't think it was that dumb of an idea.

            "You want to clear your conscious, right? Just try it, for Sakura's and your sake!" They walked by his house. "Oh, here's my house, gotta go!" Naruto turned and walked into his house. Before he closed the door, he called out to Sasuke, "Remember! Write her a letter!"

            Sasuke mumbled something Naruto couldn't hear and walked away. Sasuke walked home alone. He walked in and threw his ninja gear inside his room.  He lied down on his bed and gazed up at the ceiling with furrowed eyebrows.

            _M-maybe Naruto is right. Maybe I should write Sakura a letter . . . Sasuke shook his head. __No, I have never written sorry notes and I won't start now! Geesh, writing letters . . . what a stupid idea._

            Sasuke looked over to his dresser. Over there was a pile of unused paper and a pencil. He sighed and picked them up. His pencil fumbled on the paper as he began to write.__

_            Dear Sakura . . ._

            And he finished writing just before nightfall . . .

            __

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Sooooo… watcha think? Will Sasuke actually send her the letter? Will Sakura ever forgive him? And where is Hinata? Read to find out on the next chapter: A Plan.


	4. A Plan

**Disclaimer:**Go away! I have no money! Don't sue me! *bats lawyers away with a stick* Back Simba! Back!

**Note: **In the previous chapter, Naruto was acting a little . . . ahem . . . strange. Also, Sasuke and Naruto were a little bit friendlier than they actually are. Sorry 'bout that! This is my first Naruto fic after all, so plz be kind.

**Notice:** Words in italics are thoughts. _How many times do I have to say that?_ But also, sometimes they are used to emphasize words. I dunno. Use your head peeps.

Also, takes for all the reviews. I love you guys! That's for sticking with me.

**Warning:** There will some extreme out of character-ness because I'm getting allot of reviews saying that they want Sakura to get revenge. So just prepare for allot of weirdness. 

**            Extreme out of character-ness dead ahead!**

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                                                               **Chapter Four**

                                                                     **A plan**

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            Sakura ran home crying. Mud was dripping down from her hair. People turned their heads and watched her as she fleeted to home. The sighed and muttered 'Tsk tsk tsk. Poor little girl. I wonder what happened to her?'

            Sakura dashed into her house, took off her shoes, and darted up stairs. She walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her. Her parents weren't there and wouldn't be back for a few days. They were off on vacation and had refused to take Sakura along (since a shinobi's vacation came much later in the year.)

            Sakura turned the water on and took off her muddy clothes. She sat in the water, bringing her knees up to her chin and started wailing. Mud slowly dripped off her hair and into the water. Stream rose off the hot water and formed fog on the mirror in her bathroom.

            Sakura cried until her eyes were sore. By that time, the water in the tub was nearly overflowing! Sakura gasped and quickly turned the faucet off. Then she laid back and sunk into the now slightly muddy water.

            _Sasuke . . . I confessed my love for you. You told me you loved me too, but it was all a lie. Now it feels as if a big part of my heart has been torn out. There is an empty spot were my love for you was. I used to love you . . . b-but now . . ._

Sakura came back up to the surface. ((Japanese bathtubs are supposed to be a lot deeper than American ones.)) Her sadness disappeared and was replaced by anger.

            "BUT NOW I ABSOLUTLY HATE YOU!" she screamed loud enough for all of her neighbors to hear. Then she broke down again and started crying once more.

-At the ramen shop.

            Hinata looked around the ramen shop. She had been waiting for 3 hours for Sakura to show up. It was 5 minutes to closing time and the place was deserted except for her and the man who ran the ramen shop.

            Hinata looked out the window for the 176th time that day, but no sign of Sakura. _She should be back by now. I wonder if something happened at practice . . ._

            Hinata walked up to the counter where the man who ran the shop was scrubbing the counters. "Um, excuse me . . ." The man looked up.

            "H-have you seen a girl with pink hair around here?" Hinata asked shyly.

            "Sorry miss, I have never seen someone like that," he said.

            "Oh," Hinata lowered her head in disappointment.

            "Listen girl, it's almost closing time. Why don't you go home? Besides, its raining and you better get out of here before it starts lightening out." The man told her.

            Hinata nodded and pulled up the hood of her jacket. She knew that it was going to be a mad dash to Sakura's house, but she had to know what happened. If Sakura let her, maybe she could spend the night so she wouldn't have to go back into the storm.

            _I hope everything is all right . . . Hinata thought as she sped out into the rain._

-At Sakura's house

Sakura had finally come out of the bathtub. She had a pink bathrobe on with white pajamas underneath. Fuzzy rabbit slippers covered her feet and she had a towel in her hair. 

            Sakura walked into her room. She looked down at her hair dryer and sighed. She didn't feel like drying her hair at the moment. She was tired and mentally exhausted from the day before. _But wait. If I don't dry my hair, my hair won't look good for Sasu- oh . . . _she began to think but quickly erased that thought.

            She looked out the window of her room. _Dang, its raining again. Didn't it rain enough yesterday?_

            Sakura sniffed back the urge to start sobbing uncontrollably. _I hate rain . . ._

            Sakura pulled the towel away from her head. Short pink locks fell lightly down to her chin. Her hair was a bit stringy from being towel dried and it lacked allot of its luster than what it had before training.

            Sakura didn't feel any better. She was still crying, but the tears came one at a time. Slowly they dripped from her eyes and down to chin and fell off, quietly splashing against the ground.

            _I hate you Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi . . . I hate you all._

            Her thoughts were interrupted by a ringing doorbell._ Who would be out there in this storm? She thought was lightening crashed through the sky. It was followed by thunder's loud roar._

            Sakura marched downstairs. She came to the front door and reached out to the doorknob. She stopped half way. She started to break into a cold sweat. _What if it's them? Sakura's hand retreated back to her side._

            "Who's there?" Sakura said in a loud forceful tone to the person on the other side of the wooden barrier.

            "Sakura, is that you? It's me, Hinata. Can I please come in? I'm wet and I'm freezing . . ." Hinata didn't have to say more. In a blink of an eye, Sakura opened the door and pulled Hinata inside by her wrist.

            "Ouch! Sakura, that hurt," Hinata blew on her wrist, which had a slight red-ish color to it. "Why didn't you meet me at the ramen shop?" Hinata asked, not looking up.

            "I-I-I . . . "Sakura stuttered. It was then Hinata got a real good look at her.

            "Oh my god, Sakura, what happened to you?!" She gaped, open mouth, at Sakura. Her hair was limp and stringy. Her face was red and stained by many hours of non-stop crying. Her eyes were puffy and red outlined the whites of her eyes. She was a mess.

            Then Sakura couldn't hold it any longer. She fell to her knees and starting crying worse than she had in the shower.

            "It was so bad Hinata! We were out t-training and I-I . . .," She told Hinata the whole story. It was a bit hard to understand her, between sobs, sniffs, and stutters, but Hinata was still able to make out the key words.

            She was shocked that Naruto would help them do such a thing. Naruto, who had been her object of innocence, joy, and beauty, helped trap Sakura and break her heart. The thought made her . . . _angry_ with Naruto.

             "I'm so sorry Sakura. Let's go up into your room," Hinata managed to drag a still wailing Sakura up the stairs and into Sakura's room.

            It took about another 30 minutes for Sakura to stop crying completely. Hinata sat by her the whole time, just as a good friend should. Sakura was very grateful for that.

            "I'm sorry I didn't meet you at the ramen shop, Hinata." Sakura whispered. Her throat was raw from screaming and crying all day.

            "It's ok. Don't worry about it," Hinata smiled her normal kind smile.

            "It's just that I'm so upset at my team. They took my emotions, messed with them, and then dropped me in the mud! They're so stupid sometimes. I swear, if I wasn't on their team, they'd probably be dead by now because of all the stupid mistakes they make!" Sakura huffed. She sounded like a mad mother hollering at her kids.

            Hinata giggled. "I know how you feel. Kiba is so arrogant and stupid to know left from right and Shino's always talking to his "Bee-chan" or staring at bugs to focus on the mission. Without me, we would never get our assignments done!" Hinata's voice took on a new bolder air like Sakura's.

            Sakura made a victory pose, pointing her finger to the air at nothing at all and laughed. "We don't need men! Men are stupid!"

            Hinata posed the same. "That's right! We were fools to ever have crushes on those lunk heads!"

            "Now," Sakura screamed in delight, "Let's laugh like over confident maniacal idiots!"

            "Yeah!"

            And they did just that, throwing their head up in the air and laughed like a crazy killer preparing to stab a cornered girl. ((Just like in the movies!)) "MWYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

            Suddenly their maniacal laughter was hushed by a loud 'ka-pok' that came from outside Sakura's window. It sounded like a knife being stabbed into wood. 

Hinata walked over to the window and opened it. It was pitch black outside and the only light there was came from a random lighting bolt every now and then. There was no sign of what had made the noise.

"That's strange . . . nothings there!" Hinata said, still starring out the window. 

"Must have been a branch scraping the window," Sakura suggested as Hinata left the window.

A flash of lightening eliminated the dark room and a mysterious figure became visible in the corner. Sakura and Hinata screamed out of shock as the figure came into full view. Hinata let out a gasp. "Kurenai-sensei?!"

 The female Jounin nodded. Sakura started fuming. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to hear you giving up on Sasuke," she said, giving an evil smile.

"I don't know about that . . .," Sakura said, blushing a bit.

The teacher glared at the pink haired Genin. "You really should give up on him! Don't you remember all the times Sasuke has treated you like dirt?"

Sakura's eyes widened. Now that Kurenai has mentioned it, Sasuke _was_ a little mean to her. Not to mention he had the personality of a rusted nail, and _certainly_ do not bring up the fact that he called her annoying all the time. But Sakura loved him anyway, and she just might decide to forgive her team.

"Well they are just idiots. Who can blame them?" Hinata asked, feeling worried that all this talk about her friend's team will make her start crying again.

"Hinata!" Kurenai boomed. "Aren't you ever tired of giving Naruto all those hints that you like him, but he never ever notices?!"

"And you!" She shot a murderous glance at Sakura. "Don't you ever get so mad at Kakashi reading his 'Make Out Paradise' all the time that you feel that the author of it should be hung up by their toenails and tortured slowly with flaming toothpicks?!"

Sakura and Hinata exchanged glances. "Well maybe not the toothpick part . . . but . . ." Sakura paused and then continued, "Yes!"

The two girls nodded and the Jounin grinned.

"Good. Now listen up girls, we're going to pull the dirtiest trick there ever was in the history of Konohagakure!"

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Sorry for making everyone so out of character minna! I just couldn't resist the maniacal laughter part. I thought I would add more stupid humor in the story and add it to my long long long list of jokes that aren't even funny. This is a result of watching too many movies starring Jim Carry. ((Wah! I wanted to see Bruce Almighty!))

If you can guess what kind of trick they're gonna pull on a certain doomed boys, I'll give you a cookie ((chocolate chip!))


	5. Unexpected Alliances

**Disclaimer: ** Lawyers are EVIL! EVIL! EEEVVVVIIILLLLL! I don't own! Kishimoto sensei does! He is the wonderful and brilliant man whose job I want. Don't sue me!

**Note: **Hinata and Sakura were . . . strange, weren't they? Sorry, I couldn't resist. Thanks to all who thought that was funny. I really wasn't expecting anyone to like it! Thankies! Thank you for everyone who reviewed! I'm so happy to have this many reviews! I love you guys! :: passes out cookies to everyone::

**Notice:** Yes! People are out of character! Everyone is a bit, I know. Also, the words in italics are thoughts.

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                                                       **Chapter Five**

                                                **Unexpected Alliances**

****

            Ino bent down in front of a door. She closed one eye and peeked through the small keyhole. It was very hard to see her beloved change from a keyhole, but it was the best way to look at him without being seen.

            She gazed harder into the tiny keyhole. She was able to make out his slightly muscular chest and the ridiculous little ponytail he liked to wear. _He has such great hair. He's the only guy I know who can wear a ponytail and not be accused of being gay._

            She heard a sound and turned around. Hinata and Sakura were walking down the hall holding giant shopping bags, whispering to each other. There was a random giggle every now or then. Sakura looked over to Ino with a quizzical look on her face.

            "Oi, Ino-pig, what are you doing in front of Shikamaru's door?" Sakura asked.

            Ino put a finger in front of her lips. "Shhhh!" Not so loud, Big Forehead!" Ino said softly through clenched teeth.

            Shikimaru heard muffled noises coming from outside the door. _Oh, man! Ino's spying on me again. He approached the door. _

            "My forehead is not big!" Sakura screamed loud enough for god and everyone to hear.

            "Sakura! Shut up before he hears yo-"Ino was cut off by a door smacking into her face.

            Ino's perfect face made solid contact with the door and the force sent her against the wall. Shikamaru walked out of his room, starring at Ino, who was in shock of having a door slammed into her. When she snapped out of it, Ino checked her nose for blood, but found none. Only her pride was wounded.

            "You shouldn't spy on people," Shikamaru said to Ino with a lazy grin on his face.

            "Don't flatter yourself! I just dropped a hair band and went to pick it up, that's all!" Ino growled at him.

            Shikamaru, being very lazy, decided not to continue the conversation and went back inside. He knew Ino had been watching him for almost a month now. He came to the conclusion that either:

(A) She liked him. Or . . . 

(B) She was just perverted.

      But after a few moments of thought, he decided that it was a bit of both A and B.

            Ino waited a bit. She heard a ripping sound from inside his room and peeked in. Ino nearly screamed in rage when she found that she couldn't see inside due to the fact that Shikamaru had covered the tiny keyhole with masking tape.

            Ino growled Sakura and Hinata and whispered harshly too them, "Now look what you did, Big Forehead! He taped the keyhole and I won't be able to see him!" Ino looked as if she was judging to either scream or cry.

            Sakura couldn't believe her ears. "Ino . . ." She murmured. "You like Shikamaru?!"

            Ino rolled her eyes. "No, 'ya think?!" She continued to criticize them. "And your ruined everything! Now he thinks I'm a spying hentai!"

            "Well, aren't you?" Hinata asked shyly, trying not to sound snobby.

            Ino's face turned scarlet with rage. She opened her mouth to scream at them, but no words came out. Insults good enough to make Attila the Hun cry raced across her mind, yet none would come out. _Why the hell do they have to be right?!_

            She fell to her knees bawling her eyes out. She was sad and mad at the same time. She pounded her fists against Shikamaru's door, screaming "Why me?! Why me?!"

            Hinata and Sakura stared, not really knowing why Ino was screaming. Sakura bent down and patted her on the back. "It's ok Ino. It's natural to peek on someone you like!" Sakura said soothingly to the sobbing girl.

            "B-b-but you two have no idea what its like to love someone who doesn't love you in return!" Ino wailed. Sakura and Hinata exchanged glances.

            "Yes we do!" They said in unison. Thoughts of Sasuke and Naruto flew up into their heads.

            Ino stopped crying and hopped up. "Well that changes everything!" She squealed with delight.

            She turned her gaze to Hinata. "Sooooo . . ." Ino said with a slightly evil smirk. "Who's the lucky guy to be graced with your affection?"

            Hinata whispered his name into Ino's ear. Ino's eyes grew with shock as Hinata uttered the one name she least expected to here. 

            "NARUTO?!"

            Sakura placed a hand on top of the overly excited pig-girl's mouth. ((Sorry, couldn't resist))

            "Can you talk any louder?!" Sakura was screaming now. Everyone in the building could hear them.

----Behind the door

            Shikamaru's ear was pressed against the door, listening to every word the girls were saying. Hey, if Ino could watch him through the keyhole, he could eavesdrop on her. It wouldn't matter anyway, because everyone could hear what the girls were saying (because they were getting so loud.)

            He wasn't so surprised when he heard that Hinata liked Naruto. He saw the way Naruto looked at her when she had her back turned. He noticed the way Hinata blushed around him. It was so obvious to him that they liked each other. He didn't see what the big deal was with Hinata having a crush on Naruto. Shikamaru shrugged. He would tell anyone. ((Loyal Shi-chan!))

----Back to Sakura, Hinata, and Ino

            Sakura removed her hand when Ino became calmer. Ino-pig ((I keep teasing her, don't I?)) closed her eyes and took a deep breath and then exhaled. Hinata was looking nervously around, blushing furiously.

            Ino turned back to Sakura. "So you're still chasing after Sasuke-kun, right?"

            Sakura scowled. "No!"

            Ino was shocked.

            "Every time I try to show him that I care, he ignores me or calls me 'annoying.' Sasuke is like a glacier, always cool and to hard to break through. Once, he, Naruto, and master Kakashi pulled a prank on me and Sasuke was the one who executed it! That bastard . . ." The pink haired girl fumed, fighting back the tears that threatened to leak out the corners of her girls.

            Ino patted the girl on the head. "Good job! You are finally moving on. I'm really proud of you, Sakura," Ino beaming.

            Sakura lowered her voice to barely above a whisper. "But that's not all . . . Hinata, Kurenai-sensei, and I am going to get even. And to do so, we need your help," Sakura's emerald green eyes darkened as she grinned wickedly.

            Ino smiled with curiosity. "What are you planning to do?"

            Sakura uttered something in Ino's ear. Ino giggled. "That's clever . . . but to embarrass them completely, you should record them and send it out to the public," Ino said.

            Sakura answered back, "And who has the camera equipment to do that?"

            Ino laughed. She was the only one in Konohagakure other than the news reporters who owned such equipment to get a nice, professional look.

            "So, are you up to it?" Sakura asked.

            "Hell yeah!" Ino shouted, striking a little victory pose. "Anything to get back at Sasuke for all those years he ignored me!"

            "HELL YEAH!" the three girls said, laughing.

---*Pause here, and think about what they're gonna do. If you guess it right, I'll give you a cookie! (Holds up cookies) Any takers?*

            They threw up their heads and laughed like crazed killers once again. The insane fits of laughter echoed through the apartment's halls.

            "MUWHAHAHAHAHAHABAHAYA!"

            Then one man popped his baldhead out of the door and roared at the girls. "IF YOU DON'T THE HELL SHUT UP, THEN I'M CALLING THE COPS!"

            That shut them up.

            The trio walked outside of the apartment building. Kurenai was waiting for them.

            "I'm glad to see you've joined the team Ino," The red-eyed lady smiled.

            "Ino, get your camera and film and meet us at the abandoned house. The prank will be played tomorrow and we don't have allot of time. Fallow my instructions carefully."

            And so the worked deep into the night working on the prank for tomorrow.

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-----mini rant

Pretty crappy ending, huh? Sorry it took so long to get up. It's about 5:30 a.m. here and ever since vacation, I can't fall asleep. That's probably because I slept in the car. Oh well. Insomnia sufferers unite!

Yeah, I used the maniacal laughter part again. I wanted too . . . so blah. Another unfunny joke. *sobs* It sucks cause whenever I'm dead serious people laugh at me and when I'm not, they look at me as if I'm insane. Is there no other person in the word who shares the same sick humor as me?!

To all of those who want a cookie, I'm afraid I just ran out. Sorry! But I can make a digital cookie . . . 


	6. Don't Eat the Brownies, They're Bad for ...

**Disclaimer:** Hmmmm . . . now what would happen if I _did_ say I own Naruto? *Lawyers pounce on her* Noooooo! I didn't mean it! I swear! I don't own!

**Note:** Thank you everyone who reviewed! I am so happy. *Passes out cookies to everyone.* School is about to start soon and I HATE it. I wish school was a ninja school! It would be _way_ more interesting, even though it would threaten my health. Ninja school 4evar!

**Notice:** Sorry, this may seem as a lame chapter. People will be a bit out of character. Sorry. As I said before, this IS my first Naruto fic . . . Also, there will be a bit of bathroom humor ahead, so be careful!

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**Chapter Six**

**Don't Eat the Brownies, They're Bad For You**

****

            Sakura looked down on her work and smiled. An intricate work of ropes and weights all precisely measured out. Who knew Kurenai was a genius?

            Even though she was working with a few ninjas that were destined to become some of the most skilled ninja Konohagakure, she had doubts. _Now that it's all laid out, Kurenai-sensei's plan doesn't seem very funny any more. _It's more of a trap than a prank. Just in case it doesn't work out, I'll throw in something extra!__

_            Sakura finished the last bit of work that needed to be done. Kurenai, Hinata, and Ino had left long before and left the rest of the work for the day after. They had miscalculated how much time they had to complete the mission and failed for finishing it. Sakura stayed to work on it. She had completed it by herself. She felt very proud of herself just then.  _

            Sakura yawned and stretched. Dark circles had formed under her eyes. She groggily walked home, stumbling around a bit in the darkness. Her mind had nearly shut down due to lack of sleep.

            Sakura reached her house and fumbled with the door knob. She managed to open the door and she lazily plopped down on the chair with her legs hanging over the edge and her head propped up against one of the chair's arms. Almost immediately she fell asleep into a warm dreamless slumber.

-------

            _He he he he he . . ._

_            Was someone laughing?_

            _Ha ha ha ha ha ha!_

_            Yup, someone was laughing._

            _Tee hee . . ._

_            And . . . giggling? Ok, what the hell's going on?!_

            Sakura's eyelashes fluttered as she gazed up at the three hazy shadows above her. She screamed and flailed her arms around, trying to push them away. The back of her hand made solid contact with one of the people and pushed them away. Something crashed in the background and gasps and annoyed groans were heard.

            "Itai . . . Sakura! What do you think you're doing?!"

            Her vision cleared and she sat up straight. Hinata was standing away from the chair with a shocked look on her face. Kurenai had stepped back and Ino was on the floor sitting next to her mom's desk wincing. A shattered glass lay on ground.

            "Huh?" Sakura's mouth hung open. Her mind was still rather fogged and the light of the room burnt into her eyes. _[RL: anyone who's mom enjoys flicking the light switch on and screaming bloody murder to wake you up knows what I'm talking about.]_

            "You pushed me into the desk! That thing has sharp edges you know!" Ino cried, rubbing her back where it had made contact with one of the pointy edges of the counter.

            "Well its your fault. Don't wake me up like that, ok?" the pink haired girl yawned and stood up. She extended her hand to Ino and pulled the fair-haired teenager up on her feet. Hinata began picking up the glass shards, being extra careful not to stick herself.

            After all was taken care of, the girls sat back down in the living room.

             "You finished the prank for the boys all by yourself. I'm proud of you Sakura!" Kurenai said with a smile as she gave Sakura a thumbs-up sign.

            "Thanks Kurenai-sensei, but I think our "prank" is more of a trap," Sakura answered with a slight sigh.

            "Why?" Ino asked, pouting a bit.

            "Because the more I think about it, the result won't be as funny as I hoped it would be!"

            Hinata frowned a bowed her head down. "I'm sorry Kurenai-sensei, but I think Sakura might be right."

            "What's the matter with you guys?! This will be hilarious! You will be laughing so hard that you'll be turning blue in the face!" Kurenai snapped. She started waving her pointer finger at them as if they were small children and she was their mother.

            The younger girls went silent. The room became eerily quiet. So quiet, that if one was to even inhale that it would sound as if a bomb had landed.  Not a heartbeat was heard as the trio of chuunin ninjas both wordlessly agreed that Sakura might be right, as they had seen the complete trap.

            "Well! If that's how it's going to be then fine. But the trap _will go off and the boys _will_ be embarrassed," Kurenai said, narrowing her blood colored eyes._

            "But they're boys! They're not going to be embarrassed," Ino said.

            Kurenai opened her mouth to say something and then stopped to think. "Yeah, I guess your right, but what are we going to do?"

            A light bulb magically appeared above Sakura's head and she stood up with a smile on her face. "I've got it!" she cried and ran into the kitchen.

            The others walked into the kitchen and saw Sakura mixing stuff into a bowl. She threw in chocolate brownie mix, eggs, milk, and other assorted items into the bowl. She motioned for Ino to come over to her.

            "Ino, reach into the top cupboard and get the green box for me," she ordered. Ino looked angry at the demand, but did it anyway. _Who does Sakura think she is, bossing me around? She can't do that! After all, I'm the one with the normal sized forehead._

            Ino stood up on her tiptoes and stretched to reach the lime colored box. Her fingertips brushed the box's side and it fell down and landed on the bridge of her nose. Ino yelped and held her wounded nose. The box lay on its side on the floor.

            Hinata rushed over to Ino's side. _No! This is the second time this week something has hit me in the face!_ Ino thought. Kurenai however, decided to give her attention to the object that had smacked into the blond's perfect face.

            "What is this? Laxatives?! Sakura, you're putting _laxatives_ in brownies?" Kurenai was shocked and gawked at the box with a look of anxiety.

            "Yup!" she smirked. Her grin was stretched from ear to ear. "Isn't it brilliant?" Sakura took the box from Kurenai's hand and dumped the laxatives into the brownie mix.

            "The whole . . . box?" she flinched.

            Sakura nodded and hummed to herself. She continued to mix and then she dumped it all in a grease-coated pan. The Jounin teacher slowly backed away and gave a half-hearted thumbs up sign, then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

            "Sakura, you're really using the whole box?" Ino asked Sakura as she watched Sakura put the pan into the oven (or whatever they use to cook meals.)

            "I am. I'm going to make Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi eat it all. Kakashi especially since he planned it all," Sakura spun around happily and smiled triumphantly. "It's gonna be great! They'll be crapping in they're pants ALL DAY!" 

            Ino started to like the idea of Sasuke having a little 'accident' and she patted Sakura on the back. Hinata, who was having neutral feelings about the whole prank, decided that them eating laxative brownies was way more funny than what they had planned.

            "So what now? Do you want to do the laugh thing while we wait?" Ino gestured over to the oven where delicious brownie smells were coming from.

            "No, not this time. The neighbors said that if they hear us do it one more time they'll hire assassin ninjas to do away with us," Sakura said sadly. She wanted to laugh as she used to do with her friends (hey, it reveals stress!) but she didn't want to die anytime soon, so she restrained the nagging urge.

            Ino snorted. "Snobs."

            "But we're no match against assassins. Its ok, we don't have to," Hinata said, trying to reassure her friends.

            Minutes ticked by and then the timer went off. Sakura pulled on a pair of oven mitts and took the delicious looking but deadly sweets out. 

            "Wow, those brownies look almost as yummy as my Shikamaru!" The other two girls winced, as they did not find Shikamaru 'yummy.'

            "Sasuke is yummier!" Sakura hissed.

            "Naruto is kind of yummy too," Hinata blushed.

            The girls bickered until the clock in the living room chimed. They all gasped. "OH MY GOD I HAVE TO GET TO CLASS!" Sakura grabbed her tray of laxative loaded chocolaty goodness and rushed out the door followed by Hinata and Ino.

            Sakura ran into the forest where the training ground supposedly was. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what looked like Kurenai and Kakashi snuggling. She clasped a hand over her mouth to suppress a surprised shriek.

            Kurenai whispered something into Kakashi's ear. He blinked and then nodded. The two separated and walked off to their each separate places.

            Sakura had to shake off the sight she had just seen. Everything she thought Kurenai was was blown away. But still, she wouldn't let it interfere with her current mission.

-----At Kakashi's training ground

            Sakura forced herself to look depressed ((RL: 'cause she's thinking about the prank o'coarse!)) as she stepped onto the forever sacred land known as 'Kakashi's Training Area.' Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi weren't anywhere to be seen. Sakura started to get chills running down her spine as she thought of what they could be doing.

            _Where are they? I bet they're going to try to pull another prank on me! How dare them! Those jerks!_

            Suddenly loud shrieks rang through her ears like thunder crashing in a valley. Naruto and Sasuke leapt down from the tree and surrounded Sakura in a tight circle. Then they clasped their arms around her neck and started hugging her tightly.

            "I'm so sorry Sakura-chan!" Naruto wailed. "We should never have done that to you! We're total idiots!" Naruto said as anime style tears dripped down off his face.

            "We're _your_ total idiots!" Sasuke continued where Naruto left off.

            Then they screamed into her ears. _"_PLEASE FORGIVE US FOR WE WHERE STUPID AND WRONG!"

            Sakura was becoming light headed. Not because she was being hugged by the boy of her dreams, but because they were cutting off her air supply.

            "Can't . . . breathe!" Sakura gasped, choking for air.

            The boys let go of her imminently. Sakura fell over on the ground breathing heavily, trying to get some oxygen back into her air deprived lungs. Naruto and Sasuke looked down at her with mild amusement, for it is not everyday you get to see Sakura rolling around in the dirt gasping for breath.

            Sasuke helped the poor girl up and forced himself to smile at her. Sakura looked at him with awe, because it was the first time she had actually ever seen his teeth. ((RL: you never do cause he never smiles!)) Sasuke then let his mouth fall back into an expressionless frown.

            "Sakura, are you still mad at us?" he asked, trying his best to sound loving and sincere, but failed miserably.

            "No, I'm fine. It's just a little prank, nothing more," Sakura blushed and looked down at her feet.

            However, Inner Sakura had something different to say.

            _Hell no I'm not forgiving you, you heartless bastard!_

            In that time, Naruto had found the brownies.

            "Wow, Sakura! You made brownies! Can I have one? Or you could give me the whole thing . . . "Naruto hugged the little lidded pan,

            The girl swiped the tray out of his hand and held it protectively against her chest. "No way, not until Kakashi gets here!"

            The boys' jaws dropped open. Sakura was reserving those tasty looking treats for their old perverted teacher?! Did this mean that she was no longer interested in Sasuke but now in Kakashi-sensei? These sort of thoughts raced through the two male ninja's mind. _No! How could Sakura fall for a stupid pervert like him?_

------

            Somewhere along the road of life, Kakashi sneezed.

            "Strange, I must be getting a cold," he said as he shrugged off an impending feeling of doom that he was getting allot lately.

((RL: If anyone actually gets this joke, I'll be surprised.))

-------

            Sakura looked at the utterly shocked faces of the boys. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

            "Ah, nothing Sakura-Chan!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "But I would like one of your brownies, if that's ok with you. Please?" he asked, giving her his famous fox smile.

            "Why not?" Sakura sighed and handed the pan of brownies to Naruto. "Just make sure you give some to Sasuke-kun."

            Naruto's mouth watered as he hastily took off the plastic lid. He grabbed a hand full and shoved them into his mouth. He munch down happily on them.

            Sasuke looked over Naruto's shoulder. His eyebrows lowered and his face was set in a scowl. "Naruto! Give some to me!" He demanded and scooped up about three brownies.

            He took a bite out of one of them. "These are good Sakura," he said.

            "These are almost as good as ramen!" Naruto said happily. He had a brown ring of chocolate around his mouth. Crumbs were falling onto his orange outfit.

            She frowned. Naruto had already eaten well over 2/3 of the brownies and there was only one brownie left for Kakashi to eat.

            Sakura grinned and replied, "Arigato. It's a new recipe and I'm using you guys as my genii-pigs."

            The boys started to get cold sweat. They didn't like the way she said "genii-pigs."

            Kakashi then walked in. He looked around and his eyes fell on Sakura. He stepped closer to the pink haired female.

            "Sorry about yesterday, Sakura. It was funny at the time," he said.

            "No its ok, Kakashi-sensei," she answered.

            But Inner Sakura was saying something much different.

            _No way! I hope Kurenai bashes your nose in for everything you've done!_

            Kakashi suppressed a shiver. _The chills?_

            "You're fine now?" Kakashi smiled. Sakura nodded and he scooped her up in his arms and gave her a giant bear hug on the neck. The girl started to gasp for air once again.

            "Really? Sakura-chan you're so nice!" he looked up at the mortified expressions of Naruto and Sasuke.

            "Let go of Sakura!" Naruto shouted. Kakashi instantly dropped the girl.

            "I'm just playing with you Sakura!" he winked at her.

            Sakura managed to stand up. She was dizzy from nearly being choked twice in a row. Then Sakura remembered the surprise she had for Kakashi and took the tray from Naruto before he could eat the last brownie.

            "Kakashi-sensei! Will you try one of my brownies please?" She begged. She looked up at her teacher with large pleading eyes. She reminded him of a dog begging for table scraps.

            "No." he said flatly.

            Sakura gasped silently.

            "But why not?" she tried to make herself look as cute as possible this time.

            "Because I know what you're up to, and it won't work."

            The training ground went silent and Sakura began to feel as if her whole world was crashing down.

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Hi guys! Sorry this took so long to get up. Mom has been driving my but all over the state and school's just started. Plus, I've been grounded from the comp.

To explain the sneezing thing: it's said whenever someone thinks something bad about you you sneeze. However, I get the chills. So, I just threw that in. Sorry about the slow updates. This took forever to write.

Has Kakashi fingered out the plan? Why were Kurenai and Kakashi snuggling? Will Naruto and Sasuke figer out about the brownies before it's too late? Read to find out.

Thankx! I luv you all. 


	7. AUTHOR'S NOTE! plz read

**Authors Note!!!!!**

Hiya people. This is Radical Lauren again. I just want to point out a few things:

1: I made a mistake on their rank. Last chapter was written at night and my brain was on the verge of melting down by putting my midnight crazies on paper (actually, the comp. screen, but you get the idea.) They are actually Genin. This takes place awhile after the exam. About 5 months or so. The characters are all about the age of 13, except for Kakashi (it would be scary seeing him as a teenager) and Kurenai. I don't know her age.

2: This is my first Naruto fic so yes, everyone is a bit ((as in allot)) OCC. Sasuke especially since I cannot make a decent Sasuke (I lack the writing skills to give him the right attitude.) I wanted everyone to be at least a little over characterized so that it would be funny. 

3: the brownies are not the actually prank, Sakura just added that in there because she felt the real prank was not going to be that funny.

Thanks for all the support you guys have been giving me. School just started and things are going to be kicking up, including homework and reading ( I have to read at least 20 minutes everyday no matter what.) I also want to improve my drawing skills so I will work on that.  

Mrs. Kusanagi, I have a surprise for you! If I ever get it done, that is. I'll work on over the weekend. I think you'll like it.

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And as for things to come, well, my next Naruto fic will be a **SAKUNEJI! J It's like this: Sakura's parents are having some financial problems so she becomes a maid to help out. The thing is, its at the Hyuuga resident . . .**

That's all for now! I hope no one steals my idea. I will have to send them mean letters if they do . . .


	8. Ino Has Problems Too

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Declaimer: I don't own. I thought that would be apparent by now.

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Note: This chapter is dedicated to no one but Ino-chan! Lovely Ino, the Golden Goddess. Ok, maybe she's not a Golden Goddess, but hey, Ino is kinda cool.

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To Azi: Naruto's Twin Sister: Yes! That is a quote from Trigun. I LOVE that series. Best western anime I ever watched. But then again, I've only seen two. Trigun and Cowboy Bebop. Both are excellent animes. As for Invader Zim, I have no clue. I don't like that show. It disturbs me beyond all reason.

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To Laura Buzali: Umm, quite a few of those answers will be answered soon! I promise I haven't forgotten about the letter to Sakura! In fact, that note plays a HUGE role in the next chappy. Promise.

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**Chapter 8**

**Ino Has Problems Too**

Ino sat in a tree branch watching the scene from far away. Too far to be detected by Naruto or Sasuke, but still close enough to get a good shot. She was grateful that her camera could zoom in a good distance. She was getting it all.

The lens zoomed in on Sakura. Her eyes were wide with shock. Kakashi was in front of her, winking. Naruto's eyes had narrowed in confusion and Sasuke . . . well, Sasuke was just watching them. Ino wondered what was happening. She couldn't hear very well from the distance she was at.

A small manly voice echoed threw the forest and in Ino's ears.

"Because I know what you're up to, and it won't work."

Ino gasped. Kakashi knew? He knew about the trick, the brownies, and everything? Ino began to break out in cold sweat. Her camera became harder to hold with the oils and sweat that had formed on her palm.

'_Please no . . . please don't say that.'_

She had to be dreaming. She wanted revenge on Sasuke for not noticing her before. She didn't want it all to be ruined by Kakashi! She didn't want their wonderful plot of revenge go to waste.

Then she realized, _'what is the point?'_

Sometimes, she surprised herself. Why exactly _was_ she doing this? She wasn't really angry at Sasuke, but sad. Why hadn't he noticed her before? Was it because he loved Sakura? Maybe if they had been on the same team she would have been able to get closer to Sasuke. But if that had happened, would Sakura hate her more than before they became friends and refused to talk to her?

Ino sighed. Why exactly did she give up on Sasuke? Maybe it was his eyes. When ever she met his eyes, he would either look away or ignore her. There was no love from him for her. Not even friendship. Was it that Sasuke hated her?

No, she was sure he didn't hate her. In fact, she was almost positive he didn't know she existed! Ino knew that Sasuke didn't like allot of things. It would be easier to just list off the things he did like. That would be an incredibly short list.

When she realized there was no love, had been no love, and never would be she was lost for the longest time. She didn't want to do assignments. She was slow, sluggish, and even lost a few pounds because of her depression. No one cared or came for her.

Except for that certain pony tailed team member. She remembered the day he asked her what was wrong. She began to see that he truly cared for her. Not only as a team member and person but a _friend._

She started to gain the pounds she lost and her depression ended. She was so happy. She would look at Shikamaru whenever she had the chance. And when he looked back at her, she would find her heart beating so loud that she was almost positive that he could hear it.

Ino knew she loved Shikamaru more than anyone else in the world. Even "Sasuke-kun."

She was heartbroken to find out that he was moving on, leaving her behind. What was she to do? She no longer saw him as much now the he was a chuunin. Ino found herself going out of her way just to find him and say a friendly "hi!" to him. Except now that was becoming harder and harder to do.

What was a poor girl to do? Spy on him of course! Ino would peek in the keyhole or under the crack in the door just to catch a glimpse of him. Never had she gotten so many nosebleeds in her life! Only until that the first day she spied on Shikamaru, she hadn't realized how fast she really was. When someone came, she would hide. She always found a way to hide. That incident with Sakura and Hinata was pure accident.

Ino shook her head and tried to focus on her current mission. What was Kakashi saying? She couldn't hear anything. Ino leaned forward just a bit . . .

The branch quivered under her weight. Ino gasped and froze in her spot. The branch she was on was awfully small and thin. If she were just a bit heavier, the branch would have collapsed.

Ino let out a breath of relief, grateful that she wasn't going to fall. She gazed into the camera, trying to capture each moment of what was happening. She knew Sasuke and Naruto had eaten the brownies, but Kakashi was another story.

"I know you're trying to . . ." she heard Kakashi say. She couldn't make out the rest. She was giving all of her attention on the one brownie that Sakura held.

_'Come on! Eat it! I wanna see you shit your pants!'_

"Ino!" someone called down from below. Ino jumped and nearly fell off of her perch. She looked down and frowned.

"Chouji! What are you doing here?" She answered back down to the chubby boy below her.

"Asuma-sensei wondered where you were. He sent me to find you. We're all worried about you," He said.

"What do you mean by "we're all?" Who's worried?"

"Well, Asuma is thinking something happened to you and Shikamaru asked where you went," Chouji said between munches. 

"Shikamaru is worried about me? Really?!" Ino put her free hand over her heart. She looked like she was in total ecstasy.

"I guess. Come down and get to practice!" he finished off his bag of chips.

Ino stopped her little daydream and scowled. "No!"

"Why not?"

"Just because!" she turned away and back to video tapping.

"If you don't come, then I'm going to get you," he said.

Ino giggled to herself. Chouji climbing a tree? As if! There was no way he could-

The tree rocked a bit. Ino looked down in surprise to see Chouji half way up the tree trunk. He was huffing and clinging on desperately to stray branches. Some of them snapped off, but most of them stayed, despite his weight.

"Chouji, stop! You'll break the branch you fa-"

"DON'T SAY FAT! I'M JUST BIG BONED!"

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Kakashi looked over in the direction of were Ino was sitting. He knew the whole time she was there.

"Besides, your little plan wouldn't work anyway!" he said very loudly.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"What did he say?!" Ino tried to record what was happening, but the tree was shaking to the point that her body swayed.

"STOP IT BAKA!" she screamed.

Chouji was only a foot away from the branch she was sitting on. The tree was leaning slight downward because of its burden. Ino's weight and Chouji's was just a bit much more a slender tree like itself. The base moaned.

"I have you!" Chouji said triumphantly, clasping his arms around Ino's waste.

"No! What do you think you're doing? The branch will-!"

SNAP!

Ino was falling. Plummeting to the ground. Chouji was right above her, falling as well. She was going to be turned into a pancake!

_'This is it. I'm going to die. Even if I survive this, Shikamaru would never accept my flattened form.'_

But instead of landing on the cold hard ground, she fell on top of something soft, warm and . . . disgustingly squishy.

_'Am I dead?'_

Ino opened her eyes to see that she was not, infact, dead or a pancake, but rather on top of Chouji.

The wind had been knocked out of him, but he still managed to smile. "I didn't want to land on top of you," he wheezed, trying to inhale deep breathes.

Ino noticed that he was blushing. She realized why. If an elderly nun had just walked by, she would either scream or pass out because of the position they were in. Ino flushed and leapt off, acting as though nothing had happened. But sadly, her Inner Ino was screaming "Why him?! Why couldn't it be Shikamaru and I?"

Ino blinked and started to scream Chouji, who was still laying flat on his back.

"Where is it?!"

"Where's what?"

"The camera!"

"I dunno."

He shifted and sat up. Suddenly there was a loud crack and then silence.

"Uh oh . . ." Chouji muttered. He knew he was in for it.

"Chouji . . ." Ino said threw slightly gritted teeth. "Please don't tell me that was what I think it was."

"Um . . ." Chouji slowly stood up. The camera. A horribly broken-beyond-repair camera.

"You . . . you . . ." was all Ino could say. She knelt beside her beloved camera, holding out her hands as if she was going to pick it up, but she never did.

"It was an accident!" Chouji said. He could feel the impending feeling of doom.

"You wrecked it! You ruined my camera!" Ino wailed, clutching the broken item to her chest. "Do you have any idea how long I saved up for that?"

Ino broke down and cried. Her camera was ruined. The plastic case had been split open and the wires inside were torn from their original places. Her video tape had been smashed and flattened.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Chouji said, waving his hands.

_'I save her life and all she thinks about is a camera?!'_

Soon Ino's sobs had been reduced to quiet hiccupping. She reached out and gently touched a piece of the remains on her camera. That camera had been one of her crutches threw her depression. Now the only thing left of Shika-Spying.

A wicked grin spread across her face that Chouji couldn't see. _'Only Shika-Spying left . . .'_

"Look, Ino, I know you're upset but we have to-"he was cut off by Ino.

"I'm not sad. In fact, I'm happy you broke my camera. Because now I can . . . I can . . .," Ino thought for a moment and raised her head. Now Chouji could see the insanely evil look on her face. "I can . . . well . . ." There was nothing that she could say to Chouji that wouldn't embarrass her. No more hobbies = an excellent excuse to spy on Shikamaru. So all she did was throw back her head and . . .

"**Muywhahahahabaha!" **Chouji stepped back. He had never seen Ino so frightening before. Had she finally snapped when her camera was broken?

"Uh, Ino, I don't mean to interrupt your maniacal laughter, but we really need to get to practice."

"NO!" she screamed. It made Chouji jump. Ino grinned and stretched. 

"Ah, I feel better! Thanks Chouji. I would kiss you right now if you weren't so, well, fat," she smiled a heart warming smile and waved good bye, skipping.

"Uh, really?" Chouji blushed.

_. . .wait a minute . . ._

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I'M NOT FAT!"

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Hiya people! That chappy was dedicated to Ino. How'd ya like it? Sorry for the ultra lameness . I AM NOT implying an Ino + Chouji relationship. InoCho, ChoIno? Doubt THAT would happen.

I am so very sorry for not updating. My lang. arts teacher is working my ass off and I just completed a 14 page TYPED story. It sucked all my writing skills out da drain. Next time I'll write shorter school assignments.


	9. Death Promise

**Disclaimer: ** I don't own Naruto. The only reason I'm writing the disclaimers for other chapters is so that I get to act stupid.

**Note:** Words in italics are thoughts as always. _Haven't they figured that out already?!_

**Riyue:** actually, Ino spies at him through the door, remember? ^ . ^ You can't fit a camera through a key hole.

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**Chapter 7**

**Death Promise**

            Sakura could feel her knees trembling. She felt as though she would cry. She worked so hard to get revenge and it was all back-firing. Sakura's mind flashed back to Kurenai and Kakashi cuddling.

            _Traitor!_

            "B-but w-why not?" Sakura's voice trembled.

            "C'mon Sensei! They're delicious! Sakura-chan saved one especially for you," Naruto grinning, starring hungrily at the last brownie.

            "When I say "no" I mean no, you little dunce," he mocked. "Can't you see what Sakura's trying to do to you? Can't you see this is all part of her plan?"

            Sakura fell to her knees and screamed. She buried her face in her hands. Her perfect brownie, however, was still laid untouched on the ground, protected by a little tray. Naruto bent down a rubbed her back, whispering that everything would be ok.

            "Kakashi-sensei, you dumb perverted jerk! Why'd you make Sakura-chan cry like that? I'm going to beat you to a bloody pulp!" Naruto threatened. Glared broodingly at Kakashi. _What is he saying?_

~*~*~*

            Hinata sat down on a stump and covered the temples of her head. She hated using the Byukugan during training. It made her eyes hurt and her head throb. Her eyes rung so loud she didn't hear the gentle footsteps coming her way. Not until she felt a warm firm hand on her shoulder did she look up.

            "Kurenai-sensei?" she asked, peering up at the lovely Jounin.

            "Hello Hinata. Another headache?" the teacher studied Hinata's troubled face. "Or is something else bothering you?"

            "I have a headache, Kurenai-sensei, but I'm worried about the prank. What if Kakashi-sensei realizes it's a trick? Or worse- what if one of them gets hurt? I don't want to go through with it if it means someone will be injured. I know Sakura-san would want the same thing," Hinata involuntarily nibbled on her thumb nail. Her eyebrows furrowed down in worry.

            Kurenai's eyes softened and she kneeled by Hinata. A faint sincere smile spread across her face.

            "Hinata, I can promise you that nothing to that extreme will happen. Possibly a few bumps or bruises but it won't be what you're thinking of. It all depends on how Sakura-san sets it up and if she fallowed my instructions, everything will go fine. Trust me," Kurenai's ruby eyes sparkled and she stood back up again.

            "So you have nothing to worry about," the Jounin said.

            "Promise?"

            "Promise."

~*~*~*

            "Didn't think I'd see through your plan, eh?" Kakashi winked at Sakura who was wailing. 

            "Kakashi-sensei, what plan?" Sasuke asked, glowering fiercly at his teacher.

            "Well, isn't it obvious?" Kakashi stared back at him with all knowing eyes. "You don't see what Sakura-chan is trying to do to you?"

            "What?" Naruto answered through gritted teeth.

            "Our little Sakura-chan . . ."

            "Yes?" Sasuke asked, his body tense with anticipation.

            "Is trying to make us all . . ."

            "Yeah?! Spit it out already!" Naruto screamed.

            "Fat!"

            . . .

            . . . ?!

            "Fat? Fat?! What the hell?! Kakashi-sensei, have you gone off your rocker?" Naruto asked dizzily.

            Sakura had suddenly stopped wailing and only light tears crawled out from the corner of her eyes. ((RL: does she cry allot or what?)) She looked up, shocked. _Kakashi-hentai-sensei didn't find out?_

            Kakashi sneezed and continued. "Well, yes. As a Jounin I must have a healthy, nitrious diet to keep up my slim figure. Along with exorcise and three glasses of milk a day . . ." he went off blabbering on about heath and the ninja ways.

            Sasuke grimaced and kicked the ground. Sometimes he couldn't believe that his teacher was actually a Jounin and not an over grown graduate that had stolen someone's clothes.

            "Sorry Sakura, but I just can't allow you to give me extra pounds," he smiled.

            "Uh . . . sure, whatever," Sakura sighed.

            "Now, Sakura, I need to see your leg. Actually, I need to see your ankle. You had a nasty fall yesterday and I need to see if you're fit from practice," Kakashi kneeled down and gestured towards his knee.

            Sakura propped her foot up on his knee. Kakashi slipped her boot off and examined the ankle. It was badly bruised and swollen.

            "I'm sorry but you're going to have to skip practice," he told her. "If you put any serious weight on it, you could have a serious injury. Give it about five days or so and it will be fine."

            "I'm alright! Really! It doesn't hurt at all!" Sakura answered, pulling her shoe back on. She tapped her toe against the ground for emphasis. "See? No pain!"

            "Sakura," Kakashi gave her a look that a father would give a rebellious child. "Go. Now."

            "But I want to train!" she protested.

            "Go home Sakura!" He commanded. "Go or I'll put you over my shoulder and carry you there!"

            Sakura gulped. She knew by past experiences that her teacher actually _would haul her home over his shoulder kicking and screaming. She sulked and puffed out her cheeks. "Alright," she moaned._

            "Good girl," he gave her a reassuring pat on the back. "Remember not to put much weight on it."

            Sakura didn't answer because she was already leaving. Her very slim figure was visible just over the horizon. She looked back and scowled. She would miss out on seeing the trick come into play. But slowly her frown turned into an evil grin. It wouldn't matter. Once one of them stepped on the certain spot on the ground, it would have been done. But she had to admit, she would have given _anything to see the look on Naruto and Sasuke's face when the brownies took effect._

            "You guys are going to get it. I promise."

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Sorrrrrrryyyy! I was rushed! I wanted to get this in before I started getting hate mail!

Can you tell I like leaving cliffies? Muwhahahahahaha!

I found this totally drool worthy picture of Neji without his shirt on and his hair down. Anyone want a copy?  : )  This offer expires Nov. 20 2003 unless I really really really like you. Great, now I sound like a commercial!


	10. The Big Misunderstanding

**Disclaimer: **I no own. Naruto not mine. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

**Note: **You know the drill folks! XD. BTW, the offer for the Neji picture has gone expired so, um, no more emails. : )  Ah, yes! There was a typo in the last chapter. It was actually chapter 8, not 7. So this chapter is actually chapter 9. I'm not counting the author's note so that's why it says 10 up there.

**Warning: **OCC ahead!!!

**Yurimi-neko: **Nah, it's not a NaruSaku fic. Don't worry! I just thought Naruto was the kind to do that, not Sasu-chan. XD

Oh my god, and update! It's a MIRACLE!

Well, I tried to make a site one day called Humor Desu. It was going to be a Naruto humor site made up of fan creations that were funny. I had everything going- the layout and junk like that. Then when I tried to upload it, m150 decided to make it all so ridiculously hard to do that I just decided to give up. Oh well. Damn you m150!!! I'm switching to freewebz! XD

I also tried to create a Narusaku shrine called Hard Love. Ummm . . . more about that in the next chapter of Love Song Unsung.

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**Chapter 9**

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**The Big Misunderstanding**

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Sakura nearly passed out in her living room. When she walked through the door she crumbled into the big fluffy couch. Kakashi had shaken her up with that "I know what you're up to" speech. Who ever knew that Kakashi was such a health nut? She knew that Ninja's had to watch their diet and everything, but judging from what Kakashi said, he must be a full blown tofu loving junky! All what was missing were the microwave-able Healthy Choice TV dinners and the Diet Pepsi soda drinks!

Sakura sighed and wearily dragged herself upstairs. When she reached her door, she paused as her hand brushed the metal handle. There was something wrong here.

Sakura had not closed the door! She _always_ left her room standing wide open, unless she was inside it. That meant that someone had broken into her room!

Her hand immediately jerked back and dove to her waist where her pouch of kunai was. She kicked open the door and rushed in, screaming and running in blindly with a knife in each hand.

~*~*~*~

            Sasuke huffed and landed right at the base of the tree he was climbing. He could make it up the tree in less than half the time it tool before the fight with Haku. Oh yeah, he had improved. So had Naruto and that thought pissed him off so he kept running up the tree, going a tad bit faster each time. Naruto was on the next tree over, being forced up by Kakashi, who was threatening him with a box Lean Cuisine.

            "C'mon, Naruto! Just try it! I bet you it'll be a thousand times better than ramen!" He teased and waved the cardboard box in the air.

            "No way in hell! You're not going anywhere near me with that flavorless crap you call food!" Naruto hung on for dear life to his tree branch, but was slowly slipping.

            "Don't be stupid! It's healthy!" Kakashi sang. "Just eat it! Don't make me go up there!"

            "ACK!" Naruto cried and began clawing desperately at the bark.

            Sasuke watched the scene contently. He smirked despite of himself. His team had become a strange freaky family to him. He didn't want them to wedge their ways into his life, but they had. Especially Sakura. She had wedged herself all the way into his heart.

            He couldn't help but love her. Maybe it was something about those green eyes that were always staring straight into his own. He could count every shade of green in them. Those beautiful mesmerizing eyes. He hated it every time when she looked at Naruto, turning her eyes away from him. He wanted them to face him and only him alone. Not anyone else.

            Sasuke was relieved when he heard Sakura say that she had forgiven them. He had hated the guilt and knowing that she hated him. Maybe she had read the letter he gave her?

--Sasuke is remembering the previous night__

            He remembered running down the streets of the Leaf Village when it was raining furiously. He didn't make a sound as he ran. His stealth was absolutely perfect that night. 

Sasuke remembered her house; big and white with navy shutters and roof. A light shone softly in Sakura's window. Sasuke had the letter out, tied to a kunai with a red ribbon. He looked at it, hesitant, not knowing if he was sure if he wanted to give her it just yet. The thought of what he had confessed in the letter made him blush slightly.

            Suddenly a soft sound came to his ears. It was coming inside of Sakura's room. It was very faint at first, but then grew louder until he could finally tell what it was.

            It sounded almost like . . .

            MANAIACEL LAUGHTER?! What the hell was Sakura doing up there?! Never had he heard Sakura laugh like that before. The thought sent chills down his spine. It was accompanied by a softer, lighter voice that sounded familiar but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Was it Hinata? No way, it couldn't possibly be her.

Oh, little did our Sasu-chan know.

 Sasuke was almost intimidated by this. If it really was Sakura laughing, then it meant that she finally snapped and was probably planning mass slaughter. Images of Sakura wielding a bloody chainsaw came to his mind. Sasuke shivered. Turing back seemed like a really good idea at the moment.

"MWUWHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

And the chain saw got bloodier . . .

Lightening crashed dramatically in the background. Sasuke began to feel really stupid at the moment. He gulped and stared confusingly at the important kunai in his hand.

Pfffft! Sakura planning mass slaughter? What was he thinking?

 He shook his head, forgetting all previous doubts, and in one smooth motion, slung the kunai into the air. With perfect aim, the blade sunk deep into the wood with a wet "thwack."

As soon as the sound died down, the maniacal laughter also stopped. A familiar feminine shadow materialized behind the window. Sasuke gasped and ducked into the bushes just in time before Sakura's beautiful head emerged from the now open shutters. She tilted her head and looked one way and then the other. She shrugged and then closed the shutters once again. Sasuke let out a sigh of relief.

                        He rushed home. He had the strangest feeling. He felt light headed as though he would flout up into the sky. But at the same time his feet felt like they were hot glued to the ground. And there was this faint tingling sensation coming deep within his chest that radiated out into his entire body. He smirked. He didn't know what it was, but he hoped it would last.

            And it did, until he got home to find that his phone was ringing. He picked it up. Instantly a more than happy voice boomed over the speaker. The sound made Sasuke's teeth vibrate in his jaw.

            **"HIIIIIII SASUKE!!! DID YOU GIVE SAKURA-CHAN HER LETTER YET? HUH? DID 'YA? DID 'YA? DID 'YA?!!!!?"__**

"Naruto!" Sasuke screamed right back into the phone. "How the hell did you get this number?!"

            And so it goes.

            He thought that Sakura's reaction to the letter would be different- that the next day she would be blushing constantly around his and clinging to his arm. But today, Sakura hardly looked him in the eye. He searched the whole time Sakura was around him, yet he rarely found those deep jade eyes trained on him.

            Sasuke sighed and began pacing up the tree again with incredible speed. Then, out of the blue, his stomach lurched. Sasuke hissed and doubled over. His feet slipped and he lost balance on the tree. The next thing he knew, he was looking up at Naruto, who was pointing at him and howling with laughter.

            "Hahahaha! You suck Sasuke! Hahahahaha!" Naruto giggled and danced around Sasuke's prone form chanting insults.

            Sasuke growled and tried to recompose himself, but to no avail. "Damnit Naruto, shut up! My stomach started hurting and I lost my concentration and fell, okay?"

            "Yeah. Sure. Whatever you say," Naruto smirked and broke out cackling again.

            "No. That's what happened, dobe!" Sasuke sneered. His stomach rumbled again and Sasuke groaned and wrapped his arms around his gut.

            "Couldn't stomach Sakura-chan's cooking, huh? Well, to bad for you! This proves what a lousy boyfriend you would be. I, on the other hand, am perfect for a girl like Sakura-chan! I can-" Naruto's eyes widen and he bent down, clutching his stomach. His belly gave off the same, loud, disgusting noises that had came from Sasuke's tummy.

            Sasuke grinned weakly. Even in pain he managed to poke fun at Naruto. "So you stupid dobe, 'perfect for Sakura-chan' huh? You shouldn't be talking about her like that anyway. You've got that Hyuga girl."

((**RL:**I just want to point this out before anyone gets any idea. Naruto doesn't love Sakura anymore in this fic. He isn't going out with Hinata either. He's just teasing Sasuke. Sasuke knows that Naruto likes Hinata. Okay, everything cleared up now!))

            Kakashi paced over to the two green looking boys. He studied them carefully and smiled underneath his mask. _Ooooh. I see._

            "You guys look a little sick," He nudged Sasuke with his shoe.

            "No duh," Naruto glared at the Jounin. Then he grumbled out loud to himself, "God . . . my stomach."

            "It's those brownies that you two gobbled down like a pair of ravenous nin-dogs. Too many sweets can make you sick you know!" He laughed. Sasuke and Naruto stared at him.

            Then, Kakashi clapped his hands together as if he just got a brilliant idea. "You two need to watch what you eat from now on! We don't want to repeat this little incident now, do we? Starting tomorrow, I'm putting you both on the Subway Diet!"

            And they screamed like they never screamed before.

~*~*~*

            "Ouch! Big Forehead Girl, what do you think you're doing?!"

            Sakura looked down at the person she was attacking. It was Ino, who was looking extremely uncomfortable with Sakura's kunai pointing just inches away from her nose. Sakura pulled away instantly.

            "I-Ino! W-what are you doing in my house?" She stammered.

            "The door was open so we let ourselves in. You really should learn to lock your house more often, Sakura. You could get robbed, after all!" Ino straightened herself up.

            "'We?'" Sakura lifted a brow.

            Hinata stepped out from behind Ino. She blushed very slightly and gave Sakura a shy wave. "She means me, Sakura."

            "Oh, hi Hinata," Sakura beamed. Ino jumped down onto Sakura's bed, laying flat on her stomach and used her hands to prop her chin up.

            "Sooooo?"

            "So what?" Sakura asked, clearly confused.

            "Did they eat them? The brownies I mean," Ino's face became serious. "I was video taping the thing and I couldn't hear too well and I heard you sensei say 'I know what you're up to.' Does he know? Oh my god, Sakura, please tell me he doesn't know," she demanded. Hinata began to nervously cross her arms.

            Sakura put her hand over her mouth and chuckled. "Well, I thought he knew at first too. But he only thought that I was trying to make him fat. It turns out that he's a health freak."

            "Hmmm," Ino rubbed her chin, "It sounds fishy for me."

            "Awww, come on Ino-chan! You know my sensei. He's crazy, "Sakura said.

            "You got that right," Ino huffed and rested her head.

            Sakura and Hinata plopped right down next to her.

            "What happened to your camera, Ino-chan?" Hinata asked.

            "Chouji's what happened," Ino glared fiercely at the wall. "He came looking for me because I didn't go to practice. I was up in a tree. When I told him I wouldn't come down he climbed up after me. The branch broke and he squashed it with his fat butt."

            Sakura inhaled noisily and Hinata stroked Ino's back comfortingly.

            "I'm sorry. That was your favorite camera too, wasn't it?" She said tenderly. Ino nodded solemnly.

            "Hey Sakura, it's getting musty in here. Will you open the window?" Ino asked. Sakura narrowed her eyes at the comment "musty" but did so anyway. She slid up the window and unlocked the shutters. They swung wide open, letting the cool breeze waft in. Ino sighed dreamily. "Ah, that's better."

            Sakura's eye caught the glimpse of something metal. The sun reflected off the metallic surface and it shone brightly. Sakura couldn't help but notice it.

            Its was a kunai. And it was stuck in the base of her windowsill.

            "What's this?" Sakura gave it a sharp tug. It slid out smoothly. She held it up and examined it. "It's got a note on it."

            Ino beamed, "It looks like a love letter."

            Both Sakura and Hinata wheeled around. "What?!"

            "It was a red ribbon. Red is the symbol of love you know."

            "No way. It couldn't be that," Sakura's fingers shook as she gently pulled the ribbon loose. It fell away easily into her hand. Sakura unwrapped the curled paper from the kunai.

            The letters were jumbled up and messy, as if someone had written it with a shaking hand. Sakura's spine stiffened and she began to read it out loud.

            _"Sakura,_

_            I don't know how to say this. It was supposed to be funny when I dropped you in the mud, but it really wasn't. I can't explain what I felt. But I know that I'm sorry for it. The guild is eating me up alive. _

_Lately I've been having the strangest feelings about you. I can't get my mind off you. When you look at me I get embarrassed and have to turn around. And I think I like you. I mean really like you._

_Can you forgive me? And later, do you think we could go get some ramen or something together? If you don't want ramen, that's okay.  We can get anything you want._

_Love,_

_Sasuke"_

By the end of the letter, Sakura's face was beat red and her fingers were trembling harder. Ino and Hinata were gawking at her with an open mouth. Sakura felt like she was going to collapse. She could feel butterflies in her stomach.

"Oh my god!" Ino broke the silence. She leapt up and hugged Sakura tightly. "He _loves_ you Sakura! Sasuke-kun _loves_ you!"

"I-I d-don't think h-he does, Ino-chan," Sakura answered dizzily.

"Of coarse he does! He said 'love Sasuke,' right? And he asked you to go on a date with him!" She squealed happily.

"A-a date? He just invited me for ramen."

"I think you're wrong Sakura-chan. He did say 'anything you want,'" Hinata pointed out.

"You're right," Sakura breathed. "I can't believe he wrote this. Now when he steps into the trap he's going to hate me," tears slipped off her cheeks.

"Go stop him!" Hinata told her. "Before the trap goes off. You can ask his forgiveness if he doesn't step in it!"

"What are you waiting for, girl? Forget the prank and go after him!" Ino shoved Sakura out of her room, which wasn't hard because Sakura was already running for the door. She sprinted down the stairs and fumbled out the door.

_I'm so sorry guys! What was I thinking? They're just boys, they don't know any better. They're going to hate me. Especially Sasuke-kun . . ._

"Go after your man, Sakura!" Her two best friends called out behind her, shouting from her window. "Go! Go! Go!"

~*~*~*~*

            After showing them how to work a George Foreman Grill for the tenth time, Kakashi decided it was time to call it quits for training.

            "See you again tomorrow, my little fast food junky students! Eat well and remember that diets are your friend!" He waved them goodbye. The two (very) angry students walked off, leaving their teacher to do whatever he did after their practice.

            "That was dumb," Naruto said to Sasuke. "Since when was Kakashi so concerned about his health?"

            "Who cares? I just wanted to get out of that place," He huffed in response.

            There was a pause and Naruto started talking again. "So, did you give Sakura the letter?"

            Sasuke blushed and looked away.

            "You did, didn't you?"

            Sasuke said nothing.

            "You confessed your love in it too."

            "Shut up!"

            "You totally like Sakura," Naruto grinned devilishly. "I knew it!"

            "I said SHUT UP!"

            "It's okay to like a girl Sasuke. It shows that you have a healthy supply of hormones," Naruto laughed. Sasuke was about to punch Naruto out when he heard someone calling their names.

            "Stop! Naruto! Sasuke! Get away from that spot!"

            Both boys turned to see Sakura dashing frantically towards them. She was waving her hands around wildly in the air.

            "Naruto, step back!" she screamed.

            "Huh? Sakura-chan, what are you talking about?" Naruto asked but didn't slow down his pace. He kept walking forward like an idiot despite Sakura's warnings.

            Sakura gasped as Naruto's foot came down on the one spot were it shouldn't have gone. Ropes snapped and leaves flew up from the ground.

            Sakura covered her face in horror and watched in terror as Naruto went flying.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~****

            MUWHAHAHAHAHA! Cliffy's! Don't worry folks, you'll find out soon what happened if you haven't guessed it already. It really isn't a prank, but more like one big elaborate trap. I hope you guys liked the Sasusaku in this chp! I plan for the ending to have more romance, since this IS a romance/humor fic.

            I think I got carried away with Kakashi. Sorry, but it was just too much fun picturing him as a health nut. If anyone doesn't know, a George Foreman Grill is a miniature grill that cooks out the fat in the food. Apparently, Kakashi is quite a fan of George, huh?

            Next chapter should be the last. Or the one after that. If the next chp is the last one, then it should be a long chapter. Everything will be revealed in the end, so don't worry! I think you guys are going to be surprised! :}

            I think I should say this now . . . my original plan for a trap was to have the girls knock the boy unconscious, steal their cloths and have them wake up dressed as girls! Kakashi was going to be in a kimono while Naruto would be in a frilly pink dress! But one of you reviewers guessed it and said it was a bad idea, so I decided not to go with it. Phew! Luckily, that's not going to happen. I think the ending I have now is going to work 10 times better.

I won't be updating Working In the Hyuga Household for awhile (seeing that it's on hiatus) so I think the next update I make will be on either on Love Song Unsung or this one. I really need to update that Narusaku fic.

I was also trying to make some sites. See the top for details if you want ^.^!!!

****


	11. Forgive and Forget

**Disclaimer:** I don't own. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

**Note:** Last chapter! Booyeah!

**Soju****: **Ah, it is so possible! We can take ooc-ness above and beyond! 3

**Kaisui****: **I tried to make Sasuke sound shy, since he probably has never written a love letter before. Sasuke is very hard to write. Thanks for pointing that out! *Huggles.*

Last chapter folks! YAY!!! Hopefully, all your questions will be answered here! I told you the love letter would come into play. We're going to have some naruhina in the end. Remember the brownies? Well, those are going to add some humor in the end. I'll leave yall here!

**WARNING:** FLUFF AND BATHROOM HUMOR STRAIGHT AHEAD!!!!!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**Chapter 10**

****

**Forgive and Forget**

            Actually, Naruto wasn't flying. He was being dragged through the air by a series of ropes. One rope looped around his ankle letting his other leg dangle limply in the air. His arms flailed about wildly like the wings of a caged bird trying to break free. Naruto's footstep had triggered a spring that had set off the trap. The ropes twisted around trees and wherever the ropes were set down, Naruto was pulled.

            "Naruto!" Sakura cried and chased after him. Sasuke fallowed in hot pursuit.

            Naruto screamed and the rope snapped. He somersaulted in midair. He fell lower and lower until **CRASH!** He landed face first into a thorny bush. 

            Sakura stood there in shook. Naruto's upper half was submerged in leaves and branches. His feet swayed weakly in the air.

            "Oh my god! I'm so sorry Naruto! I'll get you out!" She began pulling at his ankles.

            "Itai! Itai! Sakura-chan, you're making it worse!" Naruto groaned through the thick foliage.

            Sakura sighed and let go. She let Naruto wiggle himself out. When he dug himself out, he was covered head to toe in scratches but not much else.

            "Naruto, are you hurt?" Sakura eyed a bruise on his cheek.

            "I'm okay, Sakura-chan. Just a little bruised," Naruto brushed himself off. Suddenly he made a hacking noise and punched his stomach. He spat out a leaf that he had accidentally swallowed in the crash. "Ewwwww. But you know, they don't taste as bad coming up as they do down."

            "Sakura," Sasuke eyed Sakura, "What is all this? A trap?"

            Sakura gulped. She could feel their eyes on her, watching for her to say something. She couldn't tell a lie. The truth was more than obvious.

            "Hai," she sighed.

            "Why?" Sasuke asked. "Is this because we dropped you in the mud?"

            "You set this up, Sakura-chan?" Naruto looked at her. He wanted a reason too.

            "Yeah," She couldn't look them in the eye.

            "But we said we were sorry," Sasuke said calmly. "Didn't you believe us?"

            "I know," Tears started to roll down her cheeks. "But I was so mad. I was really hurt that you guys would do something like that. I wanted to get even."

            "Don't cry," Naruto murmured softly.

            "We're really are sorry. We went too far, I know. We just wanted to pull a little prank on you," Sasuke said.

            "Hahaha, little. Riiiiight," Naruto snorted. Sasuke shot him a dangerous look. Naruto shut up.

            "Thanks guys. Let's start over. Like, you know, forgive and forget?" Sakura whipped a tear away.

            "Yeah," Sasuke smiled quickly at Sakura. A real smile that wasn't forced or fake. Naruto saw the gestured and decided to remember it for future black mail material.

            "Sure!" Naruto grinned. "You know what? This calls for a group hug! Come on everybody!"

            "N-now wait a s-second!" Sasuke tried to leap away but it was too late. He was caught up in the best, cuddliest, greatest group hug in the history of the Hidden Leaf Village. Awwwww . . .

~*~*~*~*

            Ino hunched over and peered into the keyhole of Shikamaru's door just as she had done many times before. Her diligent eye gazed past Shikamaru's furniture and focused on her target, which was none other than the great Shi-chan himself. She had come at a great time. Shikamaru was pulling a shirt on! She could feel a nosebleed coming on.

            Ino leaned in closer to get a better view of Shikamaru's hot (at least in her mind) bare chest. She zeroed in closer until her face almost came in contact with the cool surface of the door. Her hand slipped out in front of her and she lost her balance. Her head collided with wood and slowly, painfully, slid down. Her arm flew up to try and catch herself but . . .

            _Scccccrrrreeeeeecccccchhhhh!_

Ino flinched.

            Her nails had just scrapped against the door. The sound echoed in the empty corridors.

            _Way to go, Ino! Now Shikamaru now knows I'm out here. Damnit, damnit, damnit!_

Shikamaru's ears picked up on the sound. He sighed. It was Ino again. What was she up to now?

            Ino, defeated, decided she should get out as quickly as possible. She knew Shikamaru would open the door any minute. She turned and was ready to go when she heard _him_ say her name.

            "Ino?"

            She felt weak in the knees. Why did his voice make her feel like this? She turned around slowly.

            "Yeah? Oh, it's you Shikamaru! I was just passing by your apartment because one of my mom's friends lives on this floor and my mom wanted me to deliver a message to her," She lied and pretended like nothing happened. 

((RL: I know Shikamaru doesn't live in an apartment but its fun to write it like he does 3 ))

            "Oh, really?" He raised an eyebrow.

            "Yeah! So I'll be going on my way," Ino said quickly and prepared to make a mad dash for the elevator when Shikamaru went back into his apartment.

            "Ino," he called her name again. "Why have you been spying on me?"

            Ino broke out in cold sweat. She had nowhere to go. Cornered.

            _'Why, why, WHY did he have to ask that question?! Noooo! Ino old 'gal, you're going to have to tell the truth.'_

            She sighed and began to wring her hands nervously. "Well, even though we're still on the same team, you're a Chuunin and you're always off doing Chuunin stuff. I never get to see you anymore and I miss you. I didn't want to ask you to spend time with me so I- I . . ."

            Shikamaru gave a small smile. _'She likes me. I'm glad we both feel the same way.'_

Shikamaru started to blush. "Um, Ino, do you want me to be your boyfriend? Because I like you and you could be . . . my . . .uh, girl . . .friend."

            Ino's eyes lit up. She flung her arms around the back of Shikamaru's neck. "Yes! But aren't you too busy as a Chuunin?"

            "Not really. Only when Tsunade assigns me something," Ino hugged Shikamaru. He embraced her in return.

            Inner Ino broke out in wine and campaign. _'As forehead girl likes to say, HELL YEAH!'_

            ~*~*~*~*

            "So how'd you do it?" Naruto asked as he picked the last twig from his hair. "The rope stuff I mean. Did you really do this over night?"

            "No, not really. I did most of the work but I had help by Kurenai-sensei, Ino, and Hinata," Sakura answered.

            Naruto eyes began to bug. "Hinata? REALLY? Why?"

            "And why did Ino and Kurenai help you?" Sasuke asked her.

            "Hinata came over to my house and I was crying. I told her what you did to me and we both got really pissed at both of you. We decided we didn't need men and we, uh, laughed. Allot," Sakura blushed, not wanting to tell them about the maniacal laughter.

            Sasuke's eye twitched. _'So that's what I heard that night.'_

            "And then Kurenai appeared in the window. We said she had a plan to get revenge on you guys. We wanted show the prank to other people so we got Ino to film it. She agreed to because she was mad at Sasuke-kun for never going out with her."

            Chills ran down Sasuke's back. _'Just for that? Fan girls are scary.'_

            "Naruto," Sakura smiled at Naruto, "You should go talk to Hinata."

            "Why? D-Does she want to talk to me about something?" Naruto turned around quickly so his teammates wouldn't see his face crimson up.

            "Well, no," Sakura's smile widened. "But it's best you go tell her that you know about the prank."

            "Yeah, you're right," He stood up and grinned. "I never knew my Hinata could be vicious enough to team up with you Sakura-chan!"

            He ran off. Sakura giggled and sat down on a nearby rock. Sasuke sat down beside her.

            "I wonder if he realized that he called her 'his.'" She laughed.

            "Probably. He's got it pretty bad for Hinata," Sasuke explained.

            "They're so cute together," Sakura said dreamily. "I wonder if he's ever going to ask her out."

            Suddenly, Sakura felt Sasuke's warm hand slide over her own. She blushed in despite of herself. She came to a conclusion that since the rock they were sharing was so small Sasuke had nowhere else to put his hand. At least that's what she was telling herself before Sasuke said the one thing she had completely forgotten about.

            "Did you . . . find my letter?"

            "What?" Sakura's head wheeled around. "I, uh, forgot about that."

            "So you did find it."

            "Y-yeah."

            There was silence for a long time. Sakura refused to make eye contact with Sasuke. She was too embarrassed.

            "Sakura," Sasuke finally got her to look at him. "I meant _everything_ I said in that."

            "E-everything?" The world seemed to tilt. Was it just her or did her heartbeat get louder? She prayed to god that Sasuke couldn't hear it.

            "Yeah. I . . ." Sasuke looked away. He blushed. "love you"       

            "Sasuke-kun," she whispered as Sasuke planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.

 But something was eating away at her mind. Sakura pushed Sasuke away.

            "I'm sorry Sasuke-kun!" She cried.

            "What's wrong?" He patted her back.

            "The brownies!"

            "What?"

            "T-th-the b-brownies were . . ."

            "Sakura, calm down. What about the brownies?"

            **"LAXATIVES!"**

            Sasuke choked.

            "Wha-what?"

            "The brownies you ate had laxatives in them. I put them in there. I'm so sorry Sasuke-kun!" Sakura wailed.

            "You what?!"

            "Sorry!" she shouted over and over again frantically.

            "But I feel perfectly fi-"

            Suddenly Sasuke's stomach let out a disgusting roar. He shot into the bush Naruto had landed in earlier. With the sound of zippers being unzipped and the soft flutter of pants being pulled down, Sasuke prayed that he wasn't standing in a poison ivy bush, because chances are that he would have to use the leaves for toilet paper.

            "I'm so sorry!" Sakura repeated with a fountain of tears dripping off her face.  

            "I-it's a-alright S-sa-kura," Sasuke mumbled through gritted teeth.

((RL: omg, awkward XD.))

~*~*~*~*~*

            Sasuke felt incredibly low at that second. That was probably the most embarrassing, undignified moment of his life, especially since Sakura had been watching him.

            "Well that was . . . traumatizing, but I think I'm over it now," Sasuke said, pulling up his pants and stepping out of the bush.

            "I'm really sorry, Sasuke-kun," Sakura faced him again. She hadn't watched him while he was behind the bush.

            "What's done is done. No big deal," he lied.

            "Sasuke, do you still want to go out with me?" Sasuke asked quietly. "I can understand if you don't."

            Sasuke sighed. "As long as you promise not to do that again."

            Sakura smiled. "I promise."

            Sasuke returned the smile. "I need to go home and get cleaned up. After that I'll take you out for ramen or whatever."

            "Maybe we'll meet Naruto and Hinata at the noodle bar."

            "Maybe."

            So they began walked towards Sasuke's house. Sakura kept a little distance between Sasuke and herself. She didn't want to tell him, but he stunk. Literally.

            Thank god the house was only a few blocks away.

~*~*~*~*~*

            Hinata sat down to a steaming bowl of ramen. She loved ramen. It was up there in her favorites list when Naruto had introduced it to her. Ever since then she went out to eat ramen at least once a week, often being accompanied by Naruto.

            But this time Naruto was not there with her. She ate by herself. It was lonely because she was used to eating with Naruto. Today, her mouth didn't want to chew and the noodles didn't want to go down.

            She looked down on her half eaten bowl and sighed. _'I hope Naruto-kun didn't fall in the trap. Maybe Sakura found the boys in time and explained?'_

            "Hinata! So you WERE here after all! Sakura-chan must be psychic or something!" Hinata jumped when she felt a hand come down on her should.

            "Oh, hi Naruto-kun," She blushed.

            "Hey old man! Shrimp ramen for me!" Naruto told (rather rudely) the man at the counter who grumbled and started to boil a cup of water for the noodles. Naruto pulled up a chair next to Hinata.

            As usual, it was Naruto who started a conversation first.

            "That was a pretty cool trap you guys made. I'm going to be sore for days!" Naruto laughed.

            "Naruto-kun, don't tell me _you_ stepped on trap!"

            "Yup. I think that was the closest thing I will ever come to flying in my life." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

            "I'm sorry," Hinata whispered.

            "It's okay. Really. You better eat the rest of your ramen before it gets cold," He commented with a smile.

            Hinata looked down at her ramen. Before the noodles had almost no flavor. Where they still the same now that Naruto was here?

            Hinata ate another spoonful and smiled. It was delicious.

            "Hey Hinata, I was wondering . . . since you don't talk much about yourself and all . . ." His cheeks took a red tint.

            "Y-yes?" She was blushing furiously long before Naruto was.

            "Do you like to go walking in parks? Because I do and I thought maybe you would and if you do we could do that after your finished eating," Naruto absently scratched his ear. "I-I mean, not unless you have something else to do or anything."

            Hinata smiled. Was Naruto being shy? Was that a blush she saw on his face? Was he . . . asking her out on a date?

            Suddenly, for one of the first times in her life, Hinata felt completely confident. Bold even. Deciding to try out her new probably temporary bravado, she leaned in, and in just a flash, brushed her lips against Naruto's cheek.

            "I would love to go walking with you," she whispered in his ear as she slowly backed away.

            It wasn't as forward as she hoped it would be but it defiantly caught Naruto's attention. For the longest moment, he stared at her with shock on his face. But Naruto, never staying too shocked for long, smiled with obvious warmth.

            "Okay," he said, "It's a date."

            Hinata beamed quietly to herself.

            He had said "date."

~*~*~*~*

            Kurenai watched Sasuke and Sakura from the tree tops. She had already checked up on Ino, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Naruto and was very pleased with what she saw. Everything was going according to plan.

            She did panic a little bit at first when she discovered that Sakura had put laxatives in the brownies, but now it was kind of funny watching Sasuke drive into the bushes. Like wise with Naruto. How did the laxatives effect him? Well, let's just say the Janitor for the noodle bar is going to find a very ugly mess next time he has to clean the bathroom stalls.

            Despite the brownies, the "prank" did have the desired effect. It brought the three pairs closer together and awakened a few new _tender _feelings. Konoha always seems brighter when there is love in the air.

            Kurenai heard familiar footsteps behind her. She giggled and smiled.

            "Hello, Kakashi."

            The gray haired Jounin materialized next to her.

            "How are our little ninja wanna-bes doing?" He asked, contently watching the image of Sasuke saying 'it's okay' to a sorry and panicking Sakura.

            "Just fine. Everything is exactly how it was expected to be," she told him.

            "That's good to know," Kakashi wrapped his arms around Kurenai and buried his face in her neck. "You know, you said my plan wouldn't work."

            "Well it is kind of silly, don't you think?" Kurenai answered. "Having your students pull pranks on each other."

            "Not when you know what's going to happen in the end," He countered. "I think we all know our students well enough to know how they're going to react to a certain situation." He released Kurenai from the hug and faced her.

            "That's true. You're always good with those students. You're practically like their father," Kurenai admitted. 

            The couple remained silent for awhile. The silence wasn't awkward, though. It was one of those things were you and your partner enjoyed each other's company.

            "You know what?" Kurenai spoke at last, "Through all this time I never really got why you wanted to do this. What made you plan this little scheme?"

            "You don't know, Kurenai?" Kakashi said, obviously surprised, "You helped hatch it, but you didn't know?"

            "Well, you never really told me why. I had different theories and everything but I was never sure."

            "If you really gotta know, it was because I was sick and tired of my students being so fickle with their feelings. Sasuke loved Sakura but wouldn't show it because, well, he's emotionally constipated and is afraid of the fact that he does, indeed, have human emotions. He needed to know how to love and our "prank" was the best way I could think of to bring him and Sakura closer together.

 "I noticed Naruto liked Hinata and vice-versa, but both were too shy to admit it. I thought it would be good for them to come out of their shells. I also saw this as an excellent opportunity for Sakura to show some backbone and not be so dependant on Sasuke by plotting revenge on him. And," Kakashi paused then added, "I wanted to teach them . . . how to forgive and to forget."

"That . . . doesn't make much sense."

"I know. But it's was fun messing with them. If any of them had took the time that morning to check their calendars they would have noticed that it was April Fool's Day," he chuckled. "You gotta admit, watching them all do this stupid stuff has been pretty funny."

Kurenai laughed out loud, "Yeah, it has."

Kakashi once again embraced her from behind.

"Speaking of stupid stuff," Kurenai said, leaning back into Kakashi, "Remember the day we first actually began talking to each other?"

Kakashi frowned beneath his mask and shuddered. "Yeah. Don't remind me. Back then you thought I was gay and liked Iruka so you ambushed me and put illusions of Iruka naked in my mind."

            "Not completely naked. He was wearing a man-thong, remember?" Kurenai chuckled and pulled down his mask. It irritated her that he covered up his beautiful face with that piece of flimsily black cloth.

            "I try not to," Kakashi muttered. Then he added in a more playful tone, "Those were pretty detailed illusions. How would you know what he looks like in those kind of cloths?"

            "Haha, lucky guess probably," She smirked.

            "Liar," Kakashi purred and tickled her in the ribs.

            "Hey, stop it! You know I'm ticklish there!" Kurenai said between laughs.

            After a few for minutes, Kakashi stopped. The couple sighed and seated themselves on the tree branch they were standing on. Kurenai rested her head on Kakashi's shoulder.

            "One more question," Kurenai began, "What was with the Health Freak act?"

            "Oh, it's just fun to tease Naruto. He's probably never eaten anything green in his life so the idea of something good for him is probably scarier than thought of Sasuke beating him."

            "True," she droned. "Kiba's the same way except I see him eat a few greens every now and then." 

            "So what's after this? What are we going to do now?" She looked up at him.

            "I dunno. Wanna go get some fast food? I'm in the mood for something greasy. I'll pay for our meal this time."

            "You always have the best ideas," Kurenai kissed his cheek. "Thank god that health junky thing was just an act or I would have had to refuse to date you."

            "Like wise. C'mon, Kurenai. Let's go," He helped her up, stealing a kiss while he was at it.

            So that's how it all started. Three new romances in Konoha started thanks to the happy couple, Kakashi and Kurenai. It was either a really brilliant plan or a very stupid one. It doesn't matter, though, because it worked and everything became better in the end leaving a (hopefully) better, happier future for them all.

            That was a pretty sucky ending, huh?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

**What you never ever needed to know but I'm sharing with you anyway.**

Okay, remember when Sasuke and Naruto leaped out of the tree tops and hugged Sakura? Wondered why Sasuke acted that way? 3

_Sasuke:_ OKAY, OKAY! I'll do it, Naruto. Just put that knife down! Naruto? Naruto?! Naruto! ACCCCKKK!!!!!

Sorry for the long wait, folks. I couldn't get in like forever because my bro was on it all the time getting his work done. Of coarse, he never finishes it so it takes him weeks just to do one assignment. My LA teacher assigned a project for us to do so I could only use my time to crank out stories. 1 story every 4 days. It nearly killed me. Thanks for being patient with me.

Thanks for all the reviews. They've made me all really happy. I never intended for anyone to actually like this story. I'm so happy with the popularity it's gotten.

I tried to make this chapter as good as possible. I think I failed miserably. I think I did around 10 or so revisions and that's why it took so long. I did try to make it as romatic a possible too. Did I succeed?

I promise the next chapters on my other stories will a lot be better!

Okay! The conclusions are:

Kakashi and Kurenai plotted this from the beginning.

And they are a couple so that's why Sakura found them snuggling.

Sakura didn't find Sasuke's love letter until the day after.

Naruto loves Hinata.

Vise versa.

Sakura loves Sasuke.

Also vise-versa.

Kakashi is not actually a health freak.

I think Shikaino, Naruhina, Sasusaku, and Kakakure are all pretty damn good couples.

Thanks again! Love ya!!!!!


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